The Second and Third Years
by Kurt The Mortician
Summary: Beacon Academy serves as it's student's home for three years of their lives. And while RWBYfocuses on first years, what about the second and third years? This story will chronicle three teams, from the end of their first year at Beacon, to the end of their third and final year. Join me, Kurt the Mortician, and my partner, Lilome, on this wild ride.
1. Prologue

_**Ladies and Gentlemen, Lads and Lasses, Beuatiful people, I am KurtTheMortician and the story will soon begin. I am in the process of finalizing the first chapter. It will be here soon though. Be Ready for a Revolution.**_

_**I present**_

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**THE PROLOGUE**

Beacon Academy, is well a beacon of hope for Beacon, but this does not mean that they pin all of their hopes on team RWBY. Victory is in a simple soul, but one team does not make an army. The teams of second and third year students are not meaningless, nor are their trials and tribulations. This is a story about three second year teams at Beacon who found their destiny is the story of how they learned and grew. This is a story about their search for adventure, their search for self discovery,their search for romance, and their search for chimichangas!

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_**I am Kurt the Mortician and I hope this laid your worries, fears, and boredom to rest.**_


	2. Chapter 1

**_Author's Note: Ladies and Gents, Lads and Lasses, Beautiful people, I am Kurt the Mortician, and it finally has begun. Yes this sir the first real chapter of The Second and Third Years, some thought it would never get off the ground, that it would fail, that I wouldn't stick with it, but they were wrong. Here it is, a 5000 word chapter, and guess what, I will toil and work so that you all can get a chapter a week!... If Lilome and I can finish them and don't get pimp slapped by writer's block. Thanks to all who stuck with me. Major shout out to Ptroxsora, You my boy/girl. Sticking by me and giving my little old fic a page on the fanon wiki. Major Thanks to all the readers who were so kind and cooperative, when questioned about their submissions. Enormous thanks to Lilome for doing the editing and formatting for this chapter, and the last oneshot. I could not do this without you bro. Thanks also to everyone who submitted an oc, favorited, liked commented and subscribed wait wrong site thing. Either way It's good to be back and I hope this fic can take the place of the emptiness and sadness that occupies Thursdays now that RWBY is currently not airing new episodes. Read and enjoy you lovely readers._**

_What's this? Lilo adding his own A/N? Well, kinda. Don't want to bore you too long, but figured I'd also extend my huge thanks to everyone who submitted, favourited, commented and generally showed support to anything SaTY (That's awful, I won't ever use that abbreviation again) based, whether it's mine or Kurts. Okay that's all. Read on._

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Arc 1: Rules of Nature

Chapter 1: Graduation

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It is the one moment all first year students fear. It is the one moment where they stand without any knowledge of what will be expected of them and what will occur. Its is the day where you either succeed and survive, or fail and perish. It is the day of the graduation exams. Today all first year teams will face their most challenging test yet, but how many will survive? Let us recount this day from the view of three first year teams, each very different from each other, but all facing the same daunting task. First Team ANCY or anarchy. They are fiercely loyal to one another, and trust runs deep between them despite their petty day-to-day bickering. They take life one day at a time, a group of puckish rogues living a life of whimsy, never looking back, always moving forward. But will something as daunting as the graduation test make them stumble, or even stop? Let us find out.

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Rain was a morning person. To say he woke up with a smile plastered on his face, singing about how lovely the morning is everyday would not be much of an exaggeration. However, his team had little patience for his shenanigans as they all disliked having to wake from their peaceful slumber. This distaste for his behavior could not stop Rain's morning shower singing, though. Not to mention Rain's singing voice left much to be desired in terms of quality and generally not sounding bad, so he tried to keep his voice down as he sang and showered after awakening. Emphasis on tried. "I burn! Can't hold me now, You got nothing that can stop me, I burn! Swing All you want, like a fever I will take you down!" Rain sang at the top of his lungs, as he finished washing his hair.

Suddenly he heard a loud banging sound on the door, followed by, "Damn it Rain, shut the hell up!" It would seem he had awoken his team, and judging by the voice it was Phoenix Carson, resident swordswoman philogynist photographer. The knob on the door was twisting, but the door remained shut, it seemed she wanted to yell at him face to face for singing so loudly when they were all sleeping. Phoenix may have been justified in her anger, but Rain really didn't like being challenged, and then having to give up without a fight. Rain knew just which buttons to push to retaliate for such an attack. Rain tied his towel around his torso, about chest height , shook his hair to where it hung loosely around his head and looked in the mirror to get the scared innocent girl look just right. He turned took a deep breath and unlocked the door.

Phoenix burst in and crashed into Rain sending the two of them sprawling across the bathroom floor, limbs entangled, but looking each other in the eyes. Rain switched to his girl voice, closed his eyes, turned his head and said, "Please be gentle." Phoenix's face turned the same shade of red as her eyes as she scrambled backwards off of Rain. he stood up, closed the door and set about to blow drying his hair, resuming his singing. Today's score: Rain 1 Phoenix 0.

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Phoenix was pissed, Rain still shocked her with his girl imitation, despite the fact that she had seen him do this for a year now. She sighed and decided to let him have this one, seeing as how she should have expected him to wake up excited, even on the morning of the graduation test. Phoenix tried to stay calm as she hear Rain resume his terrible rendition of what she considered to be, a very fun song, but also rather unfitting for Rain. She walked over to the closet she and Celes had claimed and picked out her usual combat attire, a turquoise Japanese school girl uniform. Phoenix had long since given up on trying to explain that the uniform was comfortable, stylish, promoted mobility, and was fireproof to her team mates and that was the reason why she wore it.

She still couldn't understand how Rain could enjoy waking up at the crack of dawn, and had also given up on trying to get an answer from him other than "Mornings are crunk." How he could say that and still sound eloquent, she had no idea.

Phoenix laid her uniform out on her bed, and pulled her katana out from a trunk at the foot of her bed. She partially unsheathed the blade to see the red glow of the metal, brought on by infusing the blade with fire dust, sheathing the blade she unlatched the bottom of the handle to check that the handles hollow chamber was full of the metal sand she used in her unique sword style, "Ashes to Ashes", before re-capping the chamber and setting the sword onto her bed next to her uniform. Finally she pulled her camera out from her trunk, testing the zoom on the lens, and making sure the digital camera was fully charged before setting it next to her sword. If she was going to be out in the field of battle, she might as well get some good snapshots.

Phoenix heard rustling behind her as Rain resumed his singing, apparently he woke someone else up. She turned to see Celeste 'Celes' Yancy sit up in her bed wearing her simple white pajama jacket and short shorts, which matched her short shoulder length white hair. Celes' light gray eyes were warm as he yawned and then said, "Good morning."

Phoenix turned and sat on her bed next to her stuff, replying, "Morning, let me guess Rain's terrible singing woke you up?"

As she heard from the bathroom, "You are standing too close to a flame that burns, it's hotter than the sun in the middle of July, sending out your army but you still can't win, listen up silly boy cause I'm gonna tell you why... I burn!"

The two looked at the bathroom for a moment, and Celes let out a giggle as she said, "Well at least he's enthusiastic." Celes' kindness still managed to surprise Phoenix some days, as she was certain Rain's singing voice could kill a Grimm, but maybe she had just had too many mornings where she had to deal with him belting out songs while they tried to sleep in on weekends. Then again, she'd never seen Celes harm anything other than a Grimm. Apparently all of her aggression and anger went directly into her combat, as Celes ripped apart Grimm with her bladed whip, and blasted them to bits with dust. But none of this aggression was present in the gentle way Celes treated every person, animal, and insect on the planet. This behavior left Phoenix with the job of dealing with Rain's incredibly loud, horrendous singing.

Phoenix could still remember the first morning she had to deal with this problem, as Celes was too nice to say anything, and Citri could somehow sleep through Rain's singing. Still she wouldn't have it any other way, Celes, Rain, and Citri were all incredibly loyal and had immediately started helping her when she mentioned having trouble in her classes. The singing stopped and the bathroom door opened

Rain stepped out of the bathroom clad in his usual outfit consisting of a teal short-sleeve dress shirt un-tucked with only the middle three buttons done, white long sleeve shirt underneath his teal dress shirt, slim fit light blue pants that flowed into light brown boots. His hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail and thrown over his left shoulder, his white hair ribbon tied into a neat bow. Rain looked to Celes and Phoenix saying, "I bid you good morning, I trust you slept well?"

Phoenix was quick with her reply, "I slept fine, but your singing woke me up."

Celes shot her a firm look before facing Rain and saying, "I slept well too, thanks for helping last night."

Rain replied "I am glad I could be of assistance, but you seem still seem tense."

Celes nodded as she stretched and said, "Yeah I'm kinda sore, but it's to be expected."

Rain quickly spoke following Celes, "Apologies for your soreness, if it helps, I feel a little sore as well."

Phoenix looked back and forth between the two concern growing, and asked, "Wait, what happened last night?"

Celes looked over at Phoenix and answered, "Oh, I had trouble sleeping last night, and Rain helped me relax." Phoenix's concern was growing faster with each sentence but decided not to say anything, and listen, hoping what she was thinking didn't happen.

Rain looked at Celes and said, "I'm glad it helped, I'd never really done something like that before."

Celes replied warmly, "It was a big help, and you did fine, although where did you learn,"

Rain interrupted, "I learned from my sister."

Celes responded with, "She taught you well."

Phoenix's concern had gone through the roof, and she struggled to keep from gagging in disgust. She spoke up asking, "Did he really," but she was interrupted by Celes who asked in a nervous tone, "You heard us?"

Rain closed his eyes and shook his head lightly, "Don't be so worried, I was as quiet as I could be."

Celes looked over at Phoenix and apologetically said, "Sorry, I hope we didn't keep you from sleeping, but if you heard than you know that he's surprisingly good."

Phoenix's jaw hit the floor, face red, she stammered out , "Y-y-y-you,"

Rain interrupted, "Yes, you should know now, that I don't sing that badly."

Phoenix's blush faded and a wave of confusion rolled over her. Celes followed up with, "Yes, Rain sang me a lullaby to help me fall asleep, and I fell asleep on top of him."

Rain continued explaining, "Yes, I had to lay there for a while until she was in a deeper sleep before I could head back to the couch, You do know that's what happened right?"

Phoenix quickly replied, "Yeah of course, I was just surprised by your voice, when you sang, what was it?"

Rain bowed his head as he walked to the couch he slept on and replied, "Carolina in the Morning"

Phoenix quickly replied, "Right, just stick to singing that one." Rain waved his hand dismissively as he sat down on his couch. Phoenix internally snickered as she remembered how Rain and Citri, in their infinite wisdom, sold their study desks, and the bed Rain had chosen, and bought a couch. Both she and Celes were a little upset at first, but ultimately came around to the idea of having our own couch. Rain slept on it during the night, and the team split it during the day. It had a few patches sewn onto it by Celes as repairs due to the rather, boisterous nature of their team. Each patch had a story, but one other thing distinguished this couch and that was the box Rain kept near it. The box was small, and wooden, but was one of the few things Rain brought with him to Beacon, and it held a few personal items. It had a designated spot next to the couch, within reaching distance from Rain's spot on the couch,

Rain got up and walked to the small box and opened it, taking out a white hairdband with metal plates attached on to the front. He closed the box and set it back in it's usual place. He put the hairband on and straightened it out, making sure it sat flat on his head and didn't slide off because of his mouse ears, which lay tapered back, his tail swishing back and forth. Celes turned to Rain and asked, "What's that?"

Rain replied, "A memento, I wear it on special occasions."

Celes asked, "What's it a memento of?"

Rain answered, "My sister."

There was a pause, Celes then said, "I'd like to meet her one day."

Phoenix added, "Yeah, we may finally learn if all your weird traits ran in the family."

Rain chuckled and replied, "A meeting huh, well that will be difficult to manage."

Celes asked, "Why?"

Rain looked away and answered, "She's dead."

Phoenix and Celes both moved to apologize, but Rain stopped them holding his hand up. He stood up picking up his katana which lay slumbering in its white sheath. He stretched for a moment before saying, "Well I should wake Citri up, Phoenix you have next shower right?" Phoenix replied, "Yeah" and walked off to the bathroom, carrying her stuff as she heard the sound of Rain's chain saw edged katana being unsheathed as Rain yelled, "HEY CITRI WANT TO SEE A DEAD BODY!" no doubt right next to the poor dreadlocked boy's ear. If it was anyone else she would be terrified, but wouldn't hurt Citri, well not on purpose at least.

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Celes sat as she watched Rain wake Citri up with as little caution as humanly possible. There were moments when she was sure that Rain's apparent carelessness with a weapon as dangerous as Benihime worried here immensely, however she knew that Rain's time as a bodyguard would prevent him from hurting any of them.

Celes stood up and walked to the closet she and Phoenix shared and began laying out her normal clothes, as Rain and Citri had the usual argument about how Rain thought waking Citri up like a serial killer was a bad idea. this is just how things went, she laid out her clothes, Citri yelled at Rain not to be so creepy. First was her green long coat, the red checkered pattern on her left shoulder and 55 emblazoned on her left sleeve bicep. Rain responded with a comment about Citri sleeping like a bear during winter. Second was her white shirt with a red glyph pattern, reminiscent of a seven pointed star. Citri rebutted with a comment about how he needed to sleep like that to get through Rain's awful singing. Finally, she set down her black jeans, and silver chain belt with a simple skull charm dangling from the end of the belt. Rain was of course offended at the comment, and told Citri again that that was a low blow. Celes didn't need to grab her normal brown zip-up shoes, they were already next to her bed. And by the time she sat down on her bed, The two would apologize. Like clockwork.

Rain and Citri had finally settled their argument and had taken their usual morning spot on the couch when Citri said something that brought dead silence to the room."So looks like it's graduation exam day."

An uncharacteristic silence washed over the room, only the sound of the shower in the bathroom could be heard.

Celes decided to make the first move in improving the situation, saying, "Well, I think this is the first time Citri's caused an awkward silence in the dorm room."

Rain followed her up saying, "Yes, refrain from doing so in the future, it's my job." Citri let out a laugh and Celes began giggling at Rain's comment. Things were fixed temporarily.

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Phoenix strode out of the bathroom, long silver hair in its usual two braids on the side of her hair, her red tie and turquoise uniform neat with her katana sheathed on her back, and her digital camera hanging on its necklace. She looked at us laughing and said, "Hey guys, today's really serious you know." The silence returned.

This time Citri made an effort to take the first step. "Well there's no point in worrying, what will be will be right?"

Rain nodded in agreement. Celes attempted to mediate as she saw Phoenix's temper begin to flare. Citri may have been trying to help, but Phoenix wanted someone else to give some indication of being concerned for what was to come. "You both have a point, it is serious business, but that is all the more reason to have fun now, before the exam."

The team looked at Celes, despite the fact that Citri was the leader, Celes kept them from breaking out into fights, a daily challenge when people as different as Phoenix and Citri had to live together. Citri smiled, orange eyes bright, as he nodded in agreement. Phoenix turned her head and sighed. This was the closest to thing an apology Celes would elicit.

Celes turned to face Citri and said, "Well time to decide who get's third shower." Rain woke up earlier than everyone else so he always had first shower. Phoenix was always the first to be awoken by Rain's singing without fail, so second shower went to her as his apology. Leaving Celes and Citri who woke up around the same time to decide who got third shower. The two were entirely too kind in Celes' case, or laid back in Citri's case to take the shower for themselves, so one day Rain suggested a duel to the death to decide who got third shower. This idea was quickly rejected. Phoenix, Citri, and Celes decided on a contest suitable for something so trivial, and of course Rain was banned form giving any input due to fear for any more dangerous or foolish ideas.

Citri stood in his orange athletic shorts, tan clearly visible, Celes stood in her white pajama jacket and short shorts as the two prepared for the usual morning showdown.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, shoot!" Celes' hand was flat, Citri's hand was in a fist. "Shit!"Citri swore, as he went to get his normal clothes together. Celes' said, "Language" in a lightly scolding manner, as she walked into the bathroom to get ready for what was going to be a difficult day.

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Citri's morning was okay so far, he woke up to the sound of Rain screaming about a dead body in his ear and got scolded for swearing after being stuck with fourth shower, but there had been worse mornings. Like the time he and his team learned that Rain was a morning person. That had been a morning where Phoenix demonstrated her surprisingly colorful vocabulary,and was promptly read the riot act by Celes who claimed it wasn't very nice to use such language. Citri looked at rain and Phoenix who both sat in silence.

The four were all worried about graduation, after all no one knew what was going to happen. Second and Third Year students were forbidden to talk about what the graduation exam entailed, as well as teachers. This would be the first time since initiation where the students would be going into something with no idea of what they would face. It scared all of them, especially Phoenix who was for the longest time concerned that they would never match up to Team VIPR, who occupied the top team slot on the leaderboard. Rain of course hated the idea of the leaderboard, claiming that it would only bring ruin. Citri felt indifferent as they remained distinctly average in their class standings. Celes was only mildly concerned that her teammates opinions on the matter were so different.

Finally Phoenix broke the silence and Citri's train of thought. "So did you guys hear the news?" Both boys shook their heads. Phoenix responded to this with, "Cafeteria's having an all-you-can-eat buffet today.", her face in the a smug grin. Citri could feel his jaw hit the floor. He immediately went to the bathroom and knocked on the door saying, "Celes, we need to move fast, There's a buffet in the cafeteria." Within two minutes Celes burst out of the bathroom, half yelling, "Citri get showered!". Leave it to Team ANCY to be motivated by their stomachs. Citri dashed into the bathroom, intent on showering as quickly as humanly possible.

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Celes liked to be the calm one, but the prospect of all-you-can-eat pancakes excited even the most reserved of students. Her normal attire was set as she grabbed her whip, Thyme, from her trunk. The metal was whip was coiled, and its' blades retracted into the body until needed, hanging off the back of her hip. Rain attached Benihime's sheath to his left hip. making sure his beloved blade was in a position where he could draw it in an instant. Celes looked around at their dorm room.

Rain's couch, brown simple and barely big enough to fit all four of them on it. Citri's surfboard, which hung on a rack he and Rain designed, and had Phoenix forge. Phoenix's stack of photo albums, each filled with pictures from their first year as a team. And finally her handiwork. Four simple framed objects, A knit piece of fabric that said, "Dorm Sweet Dorm", A photo of the four the first time they cut school and went to the beach, four red stones in a small case mounted against the wall in memory of their initiation, and finally her favorite of the four, a piece of metal with each of their symbols and their letter in their team name, forged individually by each member and bonded together by Phoenix and Rain.

The four of them were a team, despite how often they may have argued over trivial differences. Celes pondered over whether or not to tell her teammates about Team VIPR's current situation. It was hardly her business, but then again Vic had messaged her asking for advice. She decided against it. It was Vic's problem and as much as she wished she could help, she had no idea where to even begin. Celes would simply help her team proceed through graduation, then when she was done, she could help Vic.

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Rain sat consumed by indecision. He was not afraid of what was to come during the graduation exam. The four of them could face the world and come out on top in his mind. He worried about what he would do after graduation. Could he tell his teammates the truth about his past? Rain's sword was for hire in the past, but certainly not as a bodyguard. His past was filled with bloodshed, and despite the white and blue he wore. His weapon alone was proof of his true past, and Rain was ever thankful that none of the staff or other student's suspected him. Still, he nolonger wanted to lie to them, but this secret was important. Rain had lied to his teammates and that was one of the few thing in life he regretted doing. But would they trust him? Rain would entrust his life to any of his teammates, and they would do the same for him, but would the truth of who he was change that? Rain thought about how his three friends were consumed by worry on this promised day, and decided revealing his past would only prove his trust in them. He was no longer who he once was, and if the four of them could complete the test, then he would tell them of his past. Rain sat and thought, _Freya, If I can make it through the exam,I'm one step closer to completing your dream, becoming a hunter. _

It was moments like this, when he wore her headband, and kept his ponytail over his shoulder like she did that he thought about her. His sister would always be a part of Rain's life, regardless of the fact that she was dead. He would trust his team. It's what she would have done, so it's what he will do.

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Phoenix sat in a world of worry. Her teammates, so full of energy now sat in calmly. Their noisy morning now silenced. Their vibrant atmosphere now dead. The mere thought of the graduation exam had entered their minds again, despite her attempt to distract them. They all faced the toughest challenge they would face during their time at Beacon. They may have made it this far, but there was no guarantee that they would succeed. Even Team VIPR, their allies had yet to speak to them in the past week, consumed by a rigorous training schedule. They were all scared, despite how much they all wanted to go to this school and go out to fight the creatures of Grimm. Hunters and Huntresses often met unhappy endings, despite how their lives were glamorized.

Phoenix knew first hand how people could hide the truth from the public to encourage said public to risk their lives for a cause they knew nothing of. Her mother had chronicled the war between humanity and the Faunus, and only the pictures of human triumph ever made it to the public. Never the ones showing the danger, the death, the misery brought on by war. The same happened with combat schools, and the lives of hunter's and huntresses. They were idolized, put up on a pedestal as something all children should aspire to be. There were never any advertisements speaking of the dead hunters, who lay ripped apart by Grimm, or the crippled huntresses, unable to walk for the rest of their lives.

Phoenix shook her head, as if to shake these thoughts out of her head. Worrying like this would only make things harder. She needed to take the day one step at a time. After Citri returned, she would gorge herself on breakfast, and do whatever it took to succeed with her team.

* * *

Citri dashed out of the bathroom, dressed in his usual orange converse like hi tops, tan baggy cargo pants, orange pullover hoodie, and brown jacket with an orange wave decal on the right side of his chest. He slung a belt on, and grabbed his collapsible multiform staff, Bao, attaching it to his belt where it half dangled. Citri assumed a faux drill sergeant posture, commanding, "Fall in!" The three rolled their eyes and lined up. Citri asked, "Weapons, Clothes, Can-do team spirit, desire to go out and kick-ass?" and was answered with, "Check, Check, Check, Check, Language." Citri clicked his heels together in a mock salute, "Team ANCY reporting and ready for action, to the cafeteria!" The team responded, "Sir, yes sir!". They had finally gotten out of their funk brought on by the exam. Of course with a team like theirs, breakfast would have been one of their motivations. And so the team charged off into the cafeteria, sprinting towards breakfast, then to to the promised graduation exam, never once looking back to their dorm, or the thought that they could fail. So began Team ANCY's promised day.

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The mornings of this unusual team are as strange as it's members it would seem. An what of ME? The Narrator! Wait I'm mucking the story up. AHEM. Team ANCY has regained their spirit, their goals, but how long will this resolve last? And what of Team SAWR and Team VIPR? The promised day has only begun. And we must all prepare for a revolution.

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_**Now that's how you do a first chapter! I can tell you all to expect chapter two sometime next week, if good buddy Lilome and I can stick to the time table. And it's a bit fitting for this fic to be released, and hopefully in the future, updated on Thursdays the same day new episodes of RWBy would come out. Anyway enough reminiscing. Thank you all once again. Drop a review and let me know if you liked it or if you think my stuff is terrible and I should quit. Either way, you will hear more from me and my partner in the future. A final thing before the outro. If any reader would like to submit a cover, for the story, pm me, as I am too poor of an artist to draw one. I am Kurt the Mortician, and I hope this laid your worries, fears, and troubles to rest.**_


	3. Chapter 2

_Hey guys, Lilo here, bringing you Chapter 2 of the first Arc of The Second and Third Years. This one focuses on Team VIPR, and reveals the troubles brewing within for the gang of hunters-to-be. I'm so amazed that I could get this out on time/so sorry that this is a tad late (delete where applicable) as I had a bit of trouble with it here and there, which is why I'm so grateful to have Kurt as a partner. You rock dude, thanks for the help. And you, the one reading this, you rock too. Seriously, the feedback for this story is brilliant and I can't thank you guys enough for it. Lilo out, enjoy._

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Team VIPR. They cooperate together flawlessly. They fight as if they've been a team their entire lives. But even the most tightly knit group of friends faces problems at the time of the promised day. Just what are those problems?

* * *

All things considered, this was probably the worst morning of the entire school year. Victor Gale had awoken only to immediately regret the decision. It was graduation, the day that all first years had spent the last few months panicking over, and team VIPR was no exception. Or at least, they had been until very recently.

Last week VIPR had been brimming with confidence over graduation, their strong team bonds outshining their class mates time and time again, and proving to the year that they were able to play off of one another in ways most teams could barely dream of. Those days, it seemed, were no more.

Vic and his partner Ilayda had broken up, after spending the majority of the school year as a couple. Left in their wake was an awkward tension that threatened to shatter the once highly co-operative team. How were they expected to communicate on the battlefield when right now they could barely bring themselves to talk to one another?

It took almost half an hour of Vic lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking how cold and empty his bed seemed without her before he could bring himself to finally get up. It was the first night in a very long time that he had woken up without her next to him. That wasn't to say necessarily that they did…that…they did have two roommates after all. However, it was not uncommon for the two to just enjoy each other's company, and Vic already missed that time with his girlfr-…with his ex-girlfriend.

He shed the covers and make his way over to the small pseudo-kitchen that the team had installed into their dorm. In reality it was a few cupboards, a mini fridge and a coffee machine. More of a breakfast bar than anything else, although Vic's desire to do anything other than being trapped in a room with his team meant he had already resolved to eat in the cafeteria.

As the machine finished dripping out the last few steaming splashes of water, a rustling could be head from behind Vic. Assuring himself that Ilayda was the one currently in the shower, he risked glancing behind him. Sure enough, his prayers were answered when he was met with the sight of the Zhu twins awaking from sleep in an almost identical offered them a brief smile, but didn't bother saying anything. The awkward tension between the team had forced the Zhus back into their shells. A shame, they were doing so well.

At the start of the year, the twins had rarely spoken to anyone besides each other and it had taken months before they had spoken to anyone outside of their team. It was Cirti, ANCY's leader who bridged the gap, the outgoing boy sharing the Zhus interest in meditation had bonded with them over the common ground and even begun joining them in their practise. Using Citri as a bridge to the rest of ANCY, the Zhus had also begun to regularly talk to Celes as well, the girl's friendly and supportive nature helping to coax them into more social situations and shed their social anxieties. Hell, over the last few weeks the twins could even be seen holding the occasional conversation with Rain or Phoenix.

Not anymore.

Now they were back to square one, they didn't even return the smile that Vic offered although Ru did keep eye contact for a second longer than her brother, which was _almost_ something. The team was falling apart; there was no way around it. Months of bonding shattered within the space of a day, and as sod's law dictates it just _had_ to be the day before graduation.

Oddly enough, it was the exact second that Ru looked away that everything got completely bollocksed for Victor Gale on that particular morning.

The familiar sound of a latch turning, and the bathroom door opened, Ilayda strolling out already set in her combat gear. What's worse, she made her way over to the kitchen-breakfast-thing where Vic was currently nursing his coffee.

"Morning," she chirped in a tone happy enough to cause Vic to feel a stabbing in his ribcage. He responded with a half mouthed ghost of a smile, prompting Ilayda to roll her eyes and scoff.

"You _can _still talk to me you know?" she berated. Vic could practically feel the twins wincing behind him, tearing the seams of their friendship further apart. Looking his girl-…ex-girlfriend in the eyes he simply gave a brief nod in response.

Ilayda's eye twitched, a maelstrom of verbal abuse bubbling in the back of her throat. "You jumped up little shit! I'm at least trying to reasonable about this! I'm making an effort to communicate, for the sake of the team. All I get is a fucking smile?!" She growled as she followed Vic as he paced the room, "Listen here dipshit, it's graduation. Not just for you, but for all of us. This team has been falling apart, and it's only been a day! That's on you, not me. I've been making the effort! All I've gotten since yesterday is these…these…looks!"

Another growl as she paused for breath, "For the love of-…Just- …Argh! Why can't you man up and act like a leader! What's so hard about swallowing your pride for the sake of helping your friends out? There's three people in this room besides you who are graduating today, but that's only happening if you-"

Ilayda's rant was cut off by a door shutting in her face. While she had been follow Vic around the room as he bore the brunt of her aggression, she had failed to notice that he had continuously been pausing by the exit of the team's dorm. Victor Gale, leader of team VIPR, had simply walked out the door mid conversation.

Ripping the handle forward with enough force to leave the door dangling precariously from the bottom hinge, Ilayda stormed out the room half tempted to take the door with her and use it to knock some sense into Vic. She tore down the corridor, leaving the twins to glance worriedly at one another. She was determined to have the conversation.

Victor Gale was determined to do the exact opposite.

"Hey, dick-wad. You're still in your dressing gown!"

Looking down, Vic realised that Ilayda's words were true; he hadn't changed before leaving the room and was now strolling down Beacon's hallway in a black dressing gown, the legs of his tartan pyjama bottoms sticking out from the knee length morning robe. Shit.

Giving a resigned sigh, he turned on his heel and faced his partner, who continued to march towards him with a scowl fiercer than any he'd seen prior.

"What. The. Actual. Fuck, Vic?"

"Don't want an argument," he muttered simply, suddenly looking intently at his bare feet. He felt a hand on his face, and his head was lifted up in a surprisingly caring manner so that he was looking into his partner's eyes, only inches from his own. Her narrowed charcoal orbs locking into his own brown ones, forcing him to maintain contact until she finally turned her head away. As her hand fell back down to her side, Ilayda let out a sigh, her shoulders slumping as she did. When she did return to looking at Vic, he strongly wished that she hadn't. There was nothing but sadness behind those ink-black irises.

"Fine, but we need to talk about this." She said in a manner that, while not aggressive, left no doubt that she wasn't going to be refused.

"No, we really don't."

"Well we need to talk then. Just in general. We're a team Vic. And you and I are partners. That requires communication."

"Just give me time."

"There isn't any! Graduation is _today_. Your team needs a leader. Now."

Vic took a step backwards, looking away momentarily. He saw Ilayda's arm begin to reach up to stop him, but it was retracted before it could breach the gap he created. "I'll see you guys at breakfast, okay?"

"Vic-"

"Look, we've got a few hours of breakfast left. I'll have a think, get ready and meet you guys in the cafeteria before we have to launch. I can't do more than that." Another step backwards.

"You could talk to me _now_."

Vic's only response was a weak shake of his head as he began to walk down the corridor once more. Not to the cafeteria, but definitely not to the dorm either.

* * *

Ilayda wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to run after him. She wanted to punch him. She wanted to do…something. But she didn't. Instead, Ilayda just stood there as her team leader walked off. Once he was out of sight, she leaned back against the wall of the hallway and slid down, resting her head on her knees.

This was it. Graduation. The first chance she had been presented to show her worth. To prove to everyone that she was more than just her parent's daughter, that she was a huntress in her own right with her own ability. And now, it would appear that would no longer be the case. Vic would continue to be stubborn, the twins would continue to be silent and Ilayda Yilmaz would continue to live within her parents' shadows.

The great Yilmaz hunters, famous and successful. Renowned slayers of Grimm. Heroes to all. And, naturally, the benchmark that everyone based Ilayda off of. She was merely a continuation of her parent's legend, unable to be seen as her own person.

Now she couldn't even prove them wrong. All the people who kept comparing her to her parents, the ones who refused to let her make a name for herself. How was she supposed to prove them wrong now? Without a team, and with it looking like entering the second year was nothing more than a fantasy, Ilayda couldn't see any positive outcome.

The end of her time here at beacon was fast approaching, and nothing short of a miracle seemed to be able to give Ilayda a realistic chance at entering her second year as a huntress in training. She was just going to spend the rest of her life unable to live up to the fame of her parents. Despite trying her very hardest, it was evident that there was nothing Ilayda could do to free herself from the constraints that her parents' shadows cast over her.

She would have been content to stay there the rest of the day and ignore the world, as Vic was obviously so keen to do, but that plan was foiled when a familiar beeping in her pocket snapped her out of her thoughts.

Pulling out her scroll, she checked the notification that was flashing at her. It was a message from Ru. At least the twins weren't being completely reclusive.

Forcing herself to her feet, Ilayda began slowly trudging back towards her dorm. She felt guilty about having the twins there for at least part of the argument. It wasn't fair for her and Vic to drag them into this, and she had no right to put them through it. It would appear that apologies were in order.

As she approached the team's dorm, Ilayda saw the damage she had caused to the door. Ah well, apparently second years got moved to a new building anyway. Standing in what remained of the doorway, Ilayda gave a sheepish grin to the twins, "Uh, sorry about that guys. Didn't mean to make you put up with that." She glanced back at the wreck that was now their door. "Sorry about that too, but hey second years get new dorms, right?"

"Where's Vic?", Ru asked, avoiding the small talk and getting right down to business, though her tone suggested she didn't really want to know the answer.

"I don't know." Ilayda threw herself unceremoniously onto her bed, twisting to face the two remaining members of the team. "Said he'll meet us at breakfast"

"You need to sort it out, soon." Ru responded, looking visibly disheartened at the whole ordeal.

"Yeah, I know. Don't know if he does though. I just don't know what to do about it."

"Talk." Short, simple, straight to the point. Very typical of Piao to say such a thing.

Ilayda scoffed, "Not like I haven't tried."

"To us." Ru clarified on her brother's suggestion. Ilayda raised an eyebrow, and was about to question when Ru continued, "You bottle it all up, then you yell at him. Like earlier. Bad way to convince him to talk. So talk to us, get it off your chest without scaring him off."

Wait. What? Ru…was offering help. Ru who, while more sociable than her brother, was still a long way off being considered talkative. Ru who had spent the first few weeks talking exclusively to her sibling. Ru who even when she opened up was never overly chummy…she was offering to do the whole 'talk about your problems' thing.

To say Ilayda was shocked would have been a gross understatement. She had expected anyone other than the Zhus to be her shoulder to cry on, not that she would ever do such a thing. Hell, all four members of ANCY seemed more likely candidates and they weren't even her teammates.

Maybe this was worse than she thought, if Ru felt the need to intervene.

"Talking would be good."

Oh sweet lord, Piao as well. Okay, this was now beyond surprising and bordering on plain, outright weird. The two most antisocial people that Ilayda knew were currently sat one bed across from her, cross legged and suggesting that they all get feelings-y and talk about their problems.

Quite simply, Ilayda was speechless. For a good few minutes she just sat facing the twins, wide eyed and gawping only to be broken from her trance by what was singlehandedly both the rarest and most adorable sound that had ever blessed her ears. Ru giggling. Apparently, it was at Ilayda's expense, but to hell with it, things might actually not be so bad after all.

* * *

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Goddamit!

Vic was currently a hair's breadth from putting a hole in the wall of the hallway which he currently walked through. As he stormed through the corridors of Beacon, his black dressing gown billowed behind him in an entirely comical fashion, and somewhat ruining his angry look.

What kind of leader was he, anyway? Running off like this. Cowering from his problems.

His stupid, stupid, stupid vanity was going to drag his team down. On _today_ of all days. Goddamit!

Currently, the less than composed leader of Team VIPR was apparently catching up on spending a year as the embodiment of stoic, and unleashing a torrent of emotions all at once as he marched aimlessly around Beacon Academy. So far, any and all attempts to think straight, calm down or just generally do something other than growl in frustration were futile.

This was without a doubt the worst possible way for him to start graduation. Distracted, emotional, uncontrolled. And what of his team? Broken, quite…awkward.

Everything was backwards. They were meant to be the exact opposite. They were VIPR, top of the leaderboard in teamwork! The ones who were renowned by their peers for fantastic co-ordination.

And all that was going to end. Because of Vic and his boneheaded refusal to just sit down and talk to Ilayda, or even the twins. Well… he had tried to talk to Celes, of ANCY, but that hadn't really worked out. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Goddamit, Vic.

Turning around the umpteenth corner, Vic finally stopped for a minute to think. Try as he might, he couldn't find a solution to the problem at hand. There was only one thing he could think of doing, one person that he could turn to, after Celes had denied him assistance. It was a long shot, but right now it was all he had.

Looking around and gathering his bearings, Vic set off in search of the one place he would be able to receive at least some form of guidance. Almost immediately, Vic wondered whether or not it was a wise idea. Surely the person in mind wouldn't have time for his troubles, on today of all days especially.

Regardless of what the potential outcome would be, it was too late now. Vic was already rounding the final corner to his destination, and no preferable alternative had presented itself to him.

Knocking on the door, Vic paused for a second before entering the room before him. He locked eyes with the sole occupant the second his foot crossed the threshold. This was a bad idea.

The occupant in question just sat there behind his desk, looking at Victor with mild curiosity, omnipresent mug of coffee in his hand.

"Ah, Victor. What can I do for you?", the ever-calm tone instantly put Vic's nerves to rest.

"Well you see, Professor Ozpin…"

* * *

"Uh, alright…so where do you want me to start?" Ilayda asked, still unnerved by the twins' sudden eagerness to lend assistance. It was really weird.

"Well…from the beginning. Why did all this happen?" Ru suggested.

"We broke up, you guys know that." Ilayda said, not wanting to continue the conversation along this path.

"But why?" Ru continued to press, much to Ilayda's fear

"Look I don't want to go into that okay." She forced herself to remain calm, she didn't want to upset the twins. They were only trying to help after all. Or at least Ru was, Piao was notably quiet. As usual.

"Right. Okay." Ru left an awkward silence in her wake once she spoke, no-one daring to say anything for a good few minutes afterwards.

After far too long of the three teammates sat there looking blankly at one another, Ilayda decided to try and revive the conversation.

"I just don't understand why he won't talk." Ilayda almost made the twins jump with her sudden speaking.

It would appear that none of them really knew what to say in regards to the sudden restart in conversation, as the two twins just looked at each other for a few moments. Finally, Piao turned back to Ilayda and spoke.

"He never was talkative." Piao pointed out, referring back to the start of year. Great. Words of wisdom there Piao. Very helpful.

When they had first started out as a team, Vic was almost as bad as the twins. He seldom spoke and was usually too occupied with disappearing on people to entertain their company for too long. Perhaps he had changed even more than the twins had over the course of the year. The quiet, emotionless bookworm was now a note-worthy leader…or he had been. While still not the most talkative of people, he was far more willing to communicate with the team than he had once been. Well, before everything went to shit, that is.

Ilayda considered this for a few moments. It was true, there was no denying that but it didn't fully explain his behaviour over the past two days. It wasn't just that he didn't want to talk it was more like he didn't even care. The problems that the team were facing didn't appear to faze him. Admittedly he had never really been one for getting all emotional, even his voice rarely gave a hint at what he was feeling. But that wasn't it. It was almost as though he didn't want to do anything about it at all.

"It just seems like he doesn't want it fixed." Ilayda confessed, both twins looking at her with reassurance.

"What makes you say that?" Ru prompted her teammate.

"He hasn't done anything to improve things. He's just happy to carry on as we are now." Ilayda continued after a moments though. She was about to say more when Ru gently tossed something over to her.

Catching it awkwardly, Ilayda fumbled for a few seconds before getting a secure grip on the object. A scroll. Vic's.

"Check the messages." Ru said, as if that was a perfectly valid explanation.

"I'm not going through Vic's scroll." She was mad at their leader, but she wasn't about to invade his privacy.

"Just do it."

Reluctantly, and with severe prompting from Ru, Ilayda finally opened the scroll. Bringing up the messages application, she noticed that the most recent was time-stamped as being sent late last night. Apparently, after the two had split up, Vic had messaged Celes. Ilayda refused to open up the message thread, deciding that knowing who and when Vic had spoken to was invasion enough without knowing what was said.

"So, he spoke to Celes? For all we know he could have just been bitching to her about me." Ilayda refuted.

"For all _you_ know," Ru corrected, "I actually read the messages. It's all very sweet."

"What is? What did Vic say?" Ilayda not entirely convinced, but curiosity piqued none the less.

"You want to know, the scroll's in your hand." Ru replied, leaving it up to Ilayda to decide how desperately she wanted to know the specifics.

Ilayda wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to know what Vic said. Had he been trying to fix things? Had he trying to find comfort from the notoriously friendly member of ANCY, outshining even their outgoing leader. Had he devised some sort of master plan to right the wrongs they had both committed?

Okay, that last one was unlikely. If it wasn't such a gross disregard for Vic's privacy, Ilayda wouldn't hesitate to read through the conversation that had transpired last night and figure out what was going on.

Unfortunately for her curiosity, morality won out and it was with a heavy sight that Ilayda returned the closed scroll to Ru.

"Thanks, but I guess speculation will do for now. At least I know he tried…something?"

"If you're sure." Ru's tone doing nothing to help Ilayda convince herself that she had done the right thing.

"I suppose this means I've been a bit hard on him, doesn't it?" Ilayda asked her friends sheepishly, fearing the response.

Piao and Ru both nodded simultaneously, gently confirming her fears and scaring the heck out her. It was so creepy when they did that. Seriously, at times Ilayda could swear they were more like one person than two, and it really did terrify her at times.

"Wish I knew where he was, might be able to start patching things up." Ilayda said, more thinking out loud than anything else.

"Best not. He walked off for a reason. You'll see him at breakfast." Piao finally contributed, and as usual his sister quickly followed up.

"Speaking of which, there's a buffet on today." Ru spoke seconds after her brother had finished.

"Seriously?" Ilayda asked, raising an eyebrow at the twins.

Her answer, however, did not come from either of the Zhus, but rather from outside the team's barely intact door. Through what remained of the battered slab of wood, muffled cheers could be heard.

"Move your butt Phoenix! Food's a waitin'!"

No doubt Citri, which would make the resounding chorus of support Rain and Celes.

"Uh, you didn't even dry your hair! Greedy little-" the next, no doubt colourful word from Phoenix was too dampened to be audible. Probably for the best.

"Meh, dreads take ages to dry anyway. And anyway what do you think I'm carrying a towel for? Besides, woman: Buffet!"

Another cheer by the leader's two cohorts. Clearly Team ANCY had also discovered the breakfast situation and were eager to make the most of it. Any further conversation between the four classmates behind the door was drowned out by their footsteps heavily passing the room by.

Ilayda slowly turned back to face the two twins. The look of a plan in action plastered across her face.

"You two, shower, dressed. Quick." Ilayda commanded in a tone that was almost pushing the bounds of what could be considered 'joking'.

"On it." Ru vaulted off the bed and past her brother, slamming the bathroom door with a hasty thud. Ilayda flashed a sympathetic look to the male twin, who had been beaten by his sibling before he even knew what had happened. Piao just looked back with a defeated expression, though he didn't complain.

* * *

Ilayda chuckled to herself before checking over to make sure she had all of her gear. Content that everything was ready and in place she sheathed her crossbow-axe and patiently waited for the twins to go through their morning routine so that the team could meet their friends for breakfast.

* * *

Vic left Ozpin's office even less sure than before. Naturally the headmaster of Beacon hadn't had much free time on the morning of first year graduation, but Vic had still managed to get in a relatively brief conversation with the professor.

Frankly it hadn't helped.

Ever cryptic, Ozpin hadn't really given much in the way of advice or guidance. True to his style, the professor had only offered Vic vague answers and the occasional comment on his or the team's performance.

Still, it had always been a long shot and he was lucky to have been given the headmaster's time at all. Besides, Ozpin never said anything without reason. There was more than likely some fantastic advice hidden within his words just waiting to be unlocked.

Or at least that's what Vic was counting on, otherwise he was pretty buggered.

Deciding that whatever he may or may not be able to figure out could wait; Vic began the guilty walk back to his room, thankful that by this time they had probably left for the cafeteria. With breakfast already started, he knew that there wasn't much longer he could delay seeing his teammates for.

Probably wasn't time for a shower, if he wanted to eat that is. It would postpone seeing the others though…no. No. Food was important. Graduation, test of abilities, need energy. There was no way around it, he would have to get back to the room, get into his combat gear and rush down to the cafeteria before they stopped serving food.

Great plan. Brilliant… maybe he should go for a shower.

Goddamit, Vic! No. He wasn't going to stall any longer. Steeling himself, he approached Team VIPR's dorm, pausing for a second to note the fact that the door was now only attached by one hinge. Probably from Ilayda earlier.

Shrugging off the damage as something that wouldn't really matter too much in the grand scheme of things, Vic entered, consciously increasing his pace so as to have a reasonable amount of time to eat. That and panic.

Armour? In the trunk at the end of his bed, as always. Okay good. Strapping on the emerald green chest plate and pauldrons, Vic checked himself over. Shit. Still in pyjamas.

After getting undressed, then changing into his standard black attire, Vic once again put on the armour double checking to make sure everything was in order. Once he was sure that all was well he recovered his weapons from the bottom of the trunk.

Or he would have if that was where they were. Crap, crap, crap. Where did he leave them? Ah! Under the bed.

Reaching under and retrieving the dual swords, Vic did an extremely brief look over to ensure that they were in working order. Sheathing a matching green shotgun-sword across each shoulder blade, Vic was more or less sure that he was ready.

Armour, check. Weapons, check. Scroll. Scroll…oh for fu-. Where could it be? Drawers, nope. Trunk, nope. Table, nope. Desk, nope. Bed, nope. Shelves, nope. Shit.

Okay well, that wasn't good.

For the next few minutes Vic mercilessly tore the room apart, trying and failing to recover the lost item. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that it simply wasn't in the room. With no idea where else it would be, Vic had no choice but to go without and pray that they wouldn't be needed during the exam.

Maybe one of the team had it? Or someone in ANCY?

Wasn't outside the realm of possibility, and Vic was now running too late to consider the matter any further. If he set off now then he might get half an hour to eat his breakfast. Maybe more if he absolutely ran like the clappers.

Deciding that that was exactly what he would do, Vic pelted from the room without a second thought. As he passed by he thought he could hear the sound of the door's one remaining hinge giving up, but he couldn't be sure and there was no way he was looking back to check. He was far too busy blurring down the hallways towards the cafeteria for some much needed food.

Hell with it, they'd get a new room anyway. Or fail.

* * *

Well team VIPR has yet to fix their problems, but each member seems to have a plan. But only time will tell what their plan is. Now what of the third of our three teams?

* * *

_So that's that guys, chapter two. I apologise if it doesn't flow very well with the first, I'm trying to keep somewhat in tone with Kurt's writing style while still writing in a way I'm comfortable with (hence the British phrase, that I'm really trying to tone down on) So yeah, hope you enjoyed. Please give feedback as it'll really help me out. Next week, see what Team SAWR gets up to in their morning. As of now that chapter will also be written by me, but it's looking likely that Kurt might lend a major hand with it. Go collaboration! Lilo out._

_**What's this? Kurt crashing his partner's chapter? Nah don't worry this is to thank my mysterious beta reader. They aren't on the site but they are nice enough to put up with my nonsense and read what is to come before we release it in case me and Lilo muck it up. Anyway mysterious Beta (the readers official unofficial title/name), You are the best critic I could ask for; fair, fun, and interesting, you help us to bring quality content toour viewers. You mah reader, reader. Anyhow Lilo and I will be doing a co-op chapter for three. We will both be heavily involved in the making of the team SAWR morning chapter, so expect it to be interesting. I am Kurt the Mortician, and I hope this laid your worries, fears, and troubles to rest.**_


	4. Chapter 3

_**Ladies and Gents, **__**Lads and Lasses, Beautiful People, My name is Kurt the Mortician, and your probably surprised this is out on time. Normally, most authors don't update during holiday season, however I am not mo**__**t authors. I want to maintain the schedule, even if it kills me. Hopefully it won't, I kinda like living. But I'm being weird. I spent a lot of time on this so I hope you enjoy it. I had a lot of fun with this chapter, you all will probably see why I had such a great time writing this. And so it was, that Kurt delivered a Christmas present to his wonderful partner and their loyal fans. ONE BRAND NEW CHAPTER! Not singing the whole song. Seriously where would I even get more words? I could try to think some up, but that might land me in some hot water, as I tend to let the freak flag fly with music. Aslonot everyone gets my sense of humor. Without further ado, The third chapter of Arc 1. **_

* * *

Arc 1: Rules of Nature

Chapter 3: Mexican Standoff

* * *

Team SAWR, a team unlike any other. They are all outcasts, and bound together by their understanding of each other and their love of combat. Their team relationship is organized chaos, and the four revel in wild and unorthodox situations. Other teams often duck for cover when these four enter a room, out of fear or caution. But how will they handle the promised day, the Graduation exam? Let's take a look.

* * *

Breeze Aspen had had enough. Garren Raven, Klyde Weston, and their fearless leader Reid Sigma, stood in the center of the room arguing once again over who got first shower. Every morning was the same story, the three would argue and Breeze would take first shower, then Klyde would shower, followed by Reid, and finally Garren. But Breeze was done listening to the bickering. As the three boys shouted at each other, she walked around the room, planting small waxy bricks on various objects before yelling, "SHUT UP!"

The three boys turned and looked, Garren's cyan eyes locked onto Breeze, Klyde's cobalt eyes widened, and Reid's storm cloud grey eyes narrowed at the small pen sized cylinder with a red button Breeze held in her right hand. Breeze's brown eyes were almost feral, and the four stood in a square in their pajamas. Garren wore a green light weight pullover hoodie with forest green pajama pants. Klyde wore black gym shorts with a white tank top. Reid wore steel gray pajama pants, and a steel gray robe. Breeze wore a high cut tea green tank top with matching pants. They all had terrible bed head, and they all looked like they wouldn't back down

After a minute of standing each of the three boys pulled their weapons seemingly out of thin air,and pointed them at Breeze. Klyde pointed his fists at her, small gun like barrels on top of his hands loaded with air shells. Garren had his bow pointed at her, an arrow locked onto her head. Reid was by far the most intimidating, his sword in its light machine gun form, leveled at her. All she held was her detonator

Breeze cleared her throught and said, "Attention bitches, I really don't want to, ah who am I kidding, I really want to blow this room up, so if any of you interrupt me, I will pull this trigger, and blow this room to hell, any questions?" A crazy smile painted across her face.

Klyde shook himself out of his shock, and said, "You don't have the balls to do it."

Breeze let out a laugh as she replied, "I don't have the balls?" and continued, "I'm the only one this room with the balls to rig your DJ equipment with enough C4 to crack a bank vault."

Klyde raised his hands up and gestured in a calming way, trying to placate his now stir crazy roommate, he asked, "You wouldn't blow it up though right?" Panic clearly in his voice.

Breeze nodded and answered, "Oh yes I will, I released at least ten of Professor Port's Beowolves back into the woods in the middle of the day, I will blow your stuff up if you don't shut up and listen, mmkay pumpkin?"

Klyde gulped and nodded. Breeze looked at the three again and resumed her earlier speech, "Now where was I, right I will blow us all up if you don't listen and accept my demands, so you better listen up and give up all nice and quiet like, you shit stains." She began walking around the room, Garren Kept his bow locked onto her, Reid kept his gun aimed at the detonator in her hands.

Breeze continued, "Now every morning, the same thing happens, I wake up to the sound of you three fighting like little kids over the last cookie in the cookie jar, over who gets first shower. And do you know what happens?"

A pause of silence happened as she looked around, daring one of them to answer; she then spoke again, "I take the first shower while you argue, then Klyde showers, then Reid, and finally Garren bathes."

She continued her pacing, going on with her speech, "So I've decided that since the same fucking thing happens every morning, and I'm tired of listening to the three of you bitch and moan when I wake up, that you will no longer argue. From this day forth I will shower first, then Klyde, then Garren, then Reid. How does that sound?"

Klyde nodded eagerly trying to placate the girl, Garren sighed and lowered his weapon, the two knew Breeze wouldn't hesitate to blow up the room if she was this upset. Reid however growled and maintained his aim. Breeze's chestnut brown eyes met Reid's stormy grey eyes and she shook her head a little saying, "Tsk tsk tsk, Reid I thought you were the smart one, but let me break it down for you, look around at where I planted the bombs, and tell me if any of them jump out at you."

* * *

Reid scanned the room picking out where each C4 brick had been stuck and his eyes widened when he found the fourth brick. It was sitting on his work bench which was filled with the dust and other materials he used to make his sticky bombs. If those bomb where to go off, the dust would ignite and the explosion would be massive. Their aura would protect them some, but they would be in the hospital for at least a month, and everything else in the room would be nothing more than greasy spots on the walls. This bothered Reid little, as Breeze would also loose all of her stuff in the process, her explosives were a two edge sword. He let out a growl and refused surrender, few things got under his skin, but this little showdown had managed to lodge itself under Reid's skin quite firmly.

* * *

Breeze saw the recognition in his eyes and said, "That's right Sigma, Your dust stash is rigged to blow, I hit this detonator and we'll be down for at least a month, and we can kiss everything in this room goodbye, but something tells me that's not enough of an incentive for you to just admit that I have you by the balls."

Breeze stepped over to him smiling, and whispered right into his ear, "If you don't back down, I'll be sure to tell that Klyde and Garren about your crush on the girl with the white hair in our Grimm studies class." Reid slumped to his knees in defeat, letting out a grunt as he picked himself back up and stormed over to his bed. Breeze looked at her now surly leader and felt a little guilty. She may have been all for a scorched earth response but, that threat was a low blow. She looked at her other two team mates and began to feel a bit guilty about having threatened them as well. She decided to apologize and said, "Look guys, I'm sorry that I was such a bitch about this, but I was just tired of waking up to a verbal battle royale every morning, so can we just put this behind us?"

Her three comrades sat in silence. Garren had a soft smile as he nodded, and Breeze could swear she saw a small hint of a smirk on Reid's face as he grunted in agreement. Klyde had a huge grin on his face as he replied in rap, " Girl don't worry it's all good, Just don't make trouble again in the hood." She let out an involuntary laugh at Klyde's reply, despite spending a year as a team she, Garren, and Reid still hadn't gotten used to Klyde's rapping.

Breeze gathered her green leggings, brown leather boots, white v neck shirt, brown vest, and green shemagh, as she walked into the bathroom to begin her shower.

* * *

Klyde sat on his bed and after Breeze stepped into the bathroom snatched his headphones from his bed post, and grabbed his MP3 player from the bed corner. He immediately pulled up his favorite song and cranked the volume to max. Normally Breze would complain when he blared his music, but if she wasn't in the room he could play it as loudly as he liked. His headphones rested around his neck and his head bobbed to the beat of the music and he began to rap.

"Have you ever met a girl that you tried to date but a year to make love she wanted you to wait."

"Let me tell you a my situation, I was talking to a girl from the Mistral Nation."

"The way that I met her was on tour at a concert, she had long hair and a short miniskirt."

"I got off stage dripping and pouring with sweat, I was walkin through the crowd and guess who I met?"

"I whispered in her ear 'come to the picture booth so I can ask you some questions, see if your hundred proof'."

"I asked her her name, she said Blah Blah Blah, she had 9-10 pants and a very big bra."

"I took a couple of flicks and she was enthused, I said 'How did you like the show?' She said, 'I was very amused'."

I started throwing big, she started throwing mid range, then when I tried to ask the question she started acting strange."

"Then when I asked her, 'Do you have a man?' she tried to pretend she said, 'No I don't I only have a friend'."

"Come on, I'm not even goin for it, this is what I'm gonna say."

At this moment, Garren pieced together what the song was and cleared his throat, as he prepared to join Klyde on the chorus.

"You, You got what I neeeeeeed."

"But you say he's just a friend, and you say he's just a friend."

"Oh Baby yooou got what I neeeeed."

"But you say he's just a friend, but you say he's just a friend."

"Oh Babyy yoouu got what I neeeeed."

"But you say he's just a friend, but you say he's just a friend."

Reid had begun starring at the two as they rapped together completely off key, and a grin began to grow on his face. Those two really couldn't sing. But it was part of the reason they had grown on him. They really put their hearts into everything they did.

"So I took Blah Blah's word for it at the time, I thought just having a friend couldn't be a crime."

"Cause I had friends and that's a fact, Like Agnes, Agatha, Jermaine and Jack."

"But forget about that Let's get into the story, about our girl named Blah Blah Blah that adored me."

"So we started talking, getting familiar, Taking our time so we can build the relationship."

"So we can get some understanding, about the future that we was planning."

"Everything sounded so dandy and sweet, but I had no idea I was in for a treat."

"It was all established, everything was cool; the tour was over and she went back to school."

"I called everyday, to see how she was doin, but one time that she answered it seemed like it was a dude."

"I called her one more time and she picked up again, 'I asked who was that?' she said, 'Oh he's just a friend.'."

"Don't give me that, don't even give me that. This is what I said."

Right as the two reached the chorus again, Breeze burst out of the bathroom in her full attire, tea green hair in a neat braid, as she joined Garren and Klyde in singing.

"You, You got what I neeeeeeed."

"But you say he's just a friend, and you say he's just a friend."

"Oh Baby yooou got what I neeeeed."

"But you say he's just a friend, but you say he's just a friend."

"Oh Babyy yoouu got what I neeeeed."

"But you say he's just a friend, but you say he's just a friend."

Midway through Reid rolled his eyes, and gave in, Singing as loudly as his cohorts. The four members of team SAWR, and Biz Markie all serenading the unfortunate students who lived near this team of misfits.

"Oh Baby yooou got what I neeeeed."

"But you say he's just a friend, but you say he's just a friend."

"Oh Babyy yoouu got what I neeeeed."

"But you say he's just a friend, but you say he's just a friend."

The four ceased their singing after this final line, and laughed together. Breeze, Garren and Klyde had never heard Reid join them in a song before. The song was forgotten and the four, in the midst of their laughter, realized just how much time they had taken up.

Klyde set about to grabbing his black cargo pants, with the letters BGM written on the front of the right leg, his black high cut short sleeve hoodie with large white pockets, his white shirt with a checkerboard pattern at the hem, black eighth note necklace, and black and white hi-top sneakers as he dashed into the bathroom.

* * *

Garren could only think of how his teammates seemed to snap from carefree singing to scrambling around madly trying to grab their weapons, and clothes. He managed to get his normal forest green hoodie, brown leather bracers, green cargo pants, and soft brown leather boots. He quiver of arrows, and his bow with bladed limbs, Robin, slung around his bed post. He saw Reid's light machine gun in it's massive steel sword laid across said boy's bed, alongside his camouflage cargo pants, dark green tank top, silver dog tags, black fingerless gloves, black hoodie, and black canvas kilt. The silver clip cases on his belt where being filled with ammo, and the hidden black pouch for Reid's sticky bombs were no doubt filled with at least four of Reid's dangerous explosives. Garren found himself thinking as he watched Reid how much he worried about his friends. They were all great people, but they tended to make bad impressions, and where subsequently ostracized by other students.

Reid was about 6 foot 5 and looked like he was made of pure muscle. Couple this with his dark clothing, and small grey eyes, and you have one intimidating seventeen year old. Reid also never spoke unless spoken to by an instructor, or one of his team mates, even then he usually only gave one word answers. He preferred to communicate in grunts, gestures, and growls, which understandably scared the living shit out of most of his class mates. His weapon of choice was a massive steel sword, that was more like a giant slab of steel, that transformed into a light machine gun. This was supported by sticky bombs filled with dust, activated by pulses of aura through Reid's semblance, gaining his blade the name of "Death Curse". These three things had earned the boy the title of "The Silent Giant" and terrified his fellow classmates,despite Reid's surprisingly gentle nature.

Klyde tended to rap more than he spoke, and preferred to rock out to music rather than talk to people or study. his music was even present in class, although he made an effort to keep it low enough to where no one else could hear it. This still didn't keep him from getting in trouble in Ms. Goodwitch's class. His incredibly short temper and strong sense of justice led to him getting into fights with some of the schools bullies fairly often as well. These fights tended to be short and ended with Klyde knocking his opponent's lights out, and landing him detention with Goodwitch. Through all of this he was labeled a psycho, and people tended to avoid the music loving fist fighter. Garren wished Klyde could control his temper and listen to people more than music, but ultimately Garren let Klyde live how he chose, as it was hardly his place to criticize him. As Klyde was one of the few people who had the gut's to stand up to school bullies.

Breeze landed her self in all kinds of hot water despite her honest, and chatty nature. She was probably the only person in the world who got angry when someone called the Grimm monsters. As a girl who grew up hunting deer rather than playing with dolls, Garren could easily see where she gained her skill as a sharpshooter. She believed the Grimm were the only challenging source of prey in the world, and Garren could kind of understand what she meant. Other student's though vehemently disagreed with Breeze's ideology that the Grimm were just animals, acting on instinct, and not malicious monsters. Breeze was brutally honest with her opinion of these people, and as such was considered a freak and a stuck up girl by her fellow students. She also had strong views on captive Grimm, and believed fighting the Grimm outside of their natural habitat was "Unsporting" and after a freeing a few Beowolves Professor Port had captured back into the Emerald Forest, she found herself in detention with Klyde, fairly often, as she refused to cease these "rescues".

Now Garren himself had found a way to land himself in just as much trouble as his teammates. He supported and stood by all of them. If you hang out with outcasts, you become one, and Garren hung out with all three of his misfit friends. As such he was in detention as much as Breeze and Klyde, as the two roped him into their plans. This all lead to Garren being avoided as much as his team mates were. The four cared little about this though, and this disregard for what others thought led to them becoming incredibly close, and led to them all being somewhat feared by most teams. They fought as a team but they couldn't work with others.

Garren saw Klyde step out in his normal combat gear, his metal gloves, Forte, and Fortissimo looked polished and upgraded. The both had stylized number on the middle finger, 1 on the right hand, and the number 2 on the left. There were four barrels instead of three, one on each knuckle, and a metal cuff on both wrists that held the air shells. Those two gloves could dent a Grimm's skull with little resistance, so Garren worried little for Klyde's safety in a fight. His headphones where blasting some techno song, and Klyde merely bobbed his head as he sauntered over to his bed. "Volume down." Breeze half commanded as she cleaned her hand cannons of pistols, "Gust and Gale". Klyde rolled his eyes and complied waiting as Reid lumbered into the shower. Garren turned to see Breeze holstering her pistols, and filling her vest with a few small explosive squares and ammo clips.

Garren took a moment to glance over the room that was filled with strange decorations. Breeze's bed was covered in animal skins rather than blankets and sheets. Klyde had a DJ set up at the foot of his bed, and used a suitcase under his bed to store all of his belongings. Reid Had a bomb crafting station set up on a fold out work bench that collapsed into a case. Garren himself had only a few photos from the orphanage back home, and his trunk. The walls were coated with marks and bullet holes from some of their misadventures in the past. They were anything but normal, but he believed they could survive graduation, hopefully without being hurt.

* * *

Klyde was psyched. Today he was going to hopefully get to crack some skulls. Today he would pass and graduate with his team. Today he was going to surprise his team with news of the all you can eat breakfast buffet. Reid may love to play Mister Stoic, but you mention all you can eat French Toast, and he makes a beeline for it. Breeze ate enough omelettes to feed a small army, despite how polite she may seem. As for Garren, it was all about the pancakes. Klyde himself had always been a waffle man but he could see where Garren was coming from. But this isn't the only thing that was on Klyde's mind. what he currently focused on was how the team interacted.

Klyde would never point this out, but it was really freakin weird how well they all got along. They should be at each others throats every second of every day, but somehow they managed to only fight in maybe one or two situations. Personally Klyde believed that it was all thanks to Garren, as he was like an older Brother to all of them. Garren was the only person he had seen successfully coax a full sentence out of Reid. Garren was the only guy who would listen to all his demo tracks without complaining. Most impressively, Garren was the only person who would go on hunting trips with Breeze. The swamp green haired, cyan eyed, archer was there for all of them. Klyde would do his damnedest to make sure they all made it through graduation.

* * *

Breeze had just finished loading her vest as she saw Reid step out of the bathroom, and Garren go in. She began loading all of her clothes from her trunk at the foot of her bed. Breeze had heard that second years get moved to a new building, so she might as well pack now and save herself the trouble. She fully believed that initiation would hold no terror for her and her team. They all could handle whatever the school threw at them.

What she was worried about was Reid. Breeze knew he was interested in some girl who wasn't on her team, and to be honest she was conflicted. This white haired girl was notoriously nice, and this was great. Reid would have a hard time connecting with anyone outside the team to begin with. However, that girl hated the Grimm, and that was unforgivable, at least in Breeze's eyes it was. She really couldn't make up her mind about how to handle this situation, but then she realized something. Reid is going to have a hard enough time getting to know people outside their team without her interfering. She would stay out of this. For know. Suddenly Reid let out a loud grunt, as if to grab their attention. She turned and saw him standing in the middle of the room, Garren had just left the bathroom and was clearly confused as to what Reid was doing. All they could do know though was sit and wait.

* * *

Reid took a breath and then, spoke, "Today is the promised day. Graduation. Other teams may be afraid but we aren't. this will be the day we prove that we aren't just a team of psychos, a team of freaks, a team of outcasts. The other teams may fail, and fall. But we will soar."

Reid stood and watched as his team's jaws collectively hit the floor. Did they not like his speech? He spent a lot of time preparing it, but they seem shocked. Maybe it came out wrong?

Klyde jumped up fist in the air yelling, "HELL YEAH!" He started shadow boxing the air saying, "We will soar!" Breeze stood up and saluted, repeating what Klyde said, "We will soar!" Garren stood up and nodded following up what Breeze had said, "We will soar."

Reid nodded at his team and smiled, they all had his back. there were times when he thought they would turn on him. But they had stuck by him since initiation. It was only fitting that it would continue through graduation. Klyde stopped his air boxing and looked around at them. Reid nodded at him, and Klyde took the chance to speak up, "Uh guys, do not want to detract from that badass speech and steel Reid's thunder, but breakfast buffet in the cafeteria."

Every team member bolted to the door weapons ad equipment holstered and ready. They were all set to kick ass and eat breakfast. As Reid sprinted behind his team, he smiled. Only they would have a mexican standoff with explosives, and be able to dash to breakfast as friends afterwards.

* * *

Now this team of chaos and excitement is the only one without a worry about graduation. They truly are like none SAWR has no fears, Team ANCY's members have their individual problems, and Team VIPR has lost their teamwork skills. The three teams that this tale revolves around have awakened, and they all seek the same prize, BREAKFAST! No wait, becoming second year students, that's it. How will their paths cross? How wil they interact with one another? Will they all survive the promised day?

* * *

_**Fun fact, I wrote this twice. My computer crashed, and I had to redo lengths I go to for my readers, and the upkeep of the schedule. Anyway I'm glad that so many enjoy my partner's work, and my work. This story has a long way to go. After all, it spans two years. On that note I should probably do some explaining. This story is told in Arc's. Each Arc spans multiple chapters and tells a portion of the story. There will be filler Arcs in the future, little fun side stories that will fill the gaps between the main story arcs. So expect plenty of content. One final explanation, a shemagh is like a sniper scarf, their commonly worn in the middle east by sharpshooters. Wow these are long notes, either way this chapter had it's hardships but it was worth it in the end to see my readers tune in next week on Thursday for your weekly dose of the Second and Third Years. I am Kurt the mortican, and I hope this laid your worries, troubles, and fears to rest.**_

_**Oh almost forgot. MERRY CHRISTMAS!/Boxing day! cause I know I have some aussie readers.**_


	5. Chapter 4

_**Ladies and Gentlemen, Lads and Lasses, Beautiful PeopleI am Kurt the Mortician and I am writing in sync with my amazing partner. This is the first co-op chapter of love and friendship and other stuff. We both were able to use modern science to write this entire thing together. This chapter was crazy fun to do as a result and we are finally able to reveal the reason behind the name of the first Arc Rules of Nature. This provides both the setup for the action, and team problems in this arc, as well as the future arc's. Please enjoy this. You've all earned it. and before I forget. HAPPY NEW YEAR! #YOLOSWAG4202014 just kidding. but seriously thanks for sticking by us -cue dramatic piano music- without you all this wouldn't be possible. You are my inspiration. **__Mine too. Sorry, but we don't need two mushy feelings-y bits, so I'm totally tagging on yours._

_S'up guys, Lilo here, writing this at the EXACT same time as Kurt. Cloud files, beautiful things. Anyway this was the first ever COLLABORATED chapter, which we each wrote in real-time with one another. Super crazy! Anyway, this chapter marks the set up of the glorious action-y stuff as well as setting up future tensions. Fun game: try and guess which parts were written by who. Enjoy guys. and HAPPY 2014. #2K14 JUBL!_

* * *

Arc 1: Rules of Nature

Chapter 4: Lines Between Us

* * *

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day, doubly so on an important day such as this. But on the promised day, breakfast is more akin to a feast, and this feast is serving more than food. Let us see how the three teams converge in this unassuming cafeteria.

* * *

A resounding crash echoed throughout the dining hall, briefly causing the majority of students within to turn their head towards the noise. The doors to the cafeteria were flung open, and piled in a heap of tangled limbs and profanities were team ANCY. Rain was fortunate enough to be able to more or less crawl out with very little resistance, the others were not so lucky.

Reaching into the mound of friends, Rain did his best to help free the others, eventually resulting in Celes being pulled up out the fray. The bright girl's spirit was barely affected by the ordeal, and she cheerfully joined Rain in separating Citri from an increasingly annoyed Phoenix.

In the end, they needn't have bothered, as Phoenix used all her might to put as much distance between herself and her entwined leader as a single push could give. The result was the silver haired girl being propelled over the heads of her two standing teammates and landing unceremoniously on the table of an unsuspecting team.

Snarling, and plucking a slice of pancake from her hair, Phoenix re-joined Rain and Celes as Citri picked himself up off of the floor. Aching, disorientated and still dripping from the water absorbed within the knots of his dreads, the orange eyed leader was an amusing (if somewhat soggy) sight. Despite this, he rose to his feet with a goofy smile plastered on his face as he addressed his team.

His eyes shone with an almost unsettling level of enthusiasm, "To the queue!"

Rain gave a mock salute, Celes giggled and skipped along and Phoenix stalked angrily after them as the four set off across the lunch hall.

* * *

Celes was the first to sit down, claiming their usual eight seated table in the near middle of the hall. In front of her was a hefty stack of pancakes, with a hearty glazing of syrup to accompany them. Phoenix was next, taking a seat next to her partner while placing her own breakfast of toast and a bowl of cereal down on the table. The guys arrived at the same time, each carrying a multitude of plates stacked high with various foods and condiments. Rain and Citri's plates each bore the individual components that made up a full English Breakfast. Bacon, sausage, egg, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, slices of toast, hash browns and baked beans adorned his collection of plates, along with an accompanying pot of sauce.

"Citri's idea," Rain explained, as he saw the looks that the girls were giving the partners. It was somewhere between awe and disgust.

"Gives energy, nice and balanced." Citri clarified, mouth already full of food. "Besides, there wasn't enough butter left to make 'the Honeybutter', so this was the next best. Man I don't think I've had a Full Breakfast since being at Beacon!"

"You haven't. I'd remember such insane amounts of food." Phoenix responded, clearly more disgusted than impressed, unlike her partner.

"…this is a buffet right? We can go back and get more?" Celes asked the boys opposite her, each wolfing away at their multi-plate breakfasts.

Somewhere in between breaths, one of them gave a brief grunt of affirmation and Celes instantly shot from her seat, pancakes forgotten, as she went about grabbing herself one of the wonderful fry-ups, quickly returning to see Rain leaving.

Rain had stood up and begun walking away, a piece of toast dangling from his mouth. Celes

looked over to the mouse boy and grabbed his attention asking, "Hey Rain, what are you doing?" Rain looked back to the girl and seemed to inhale the slice of toast. he cleared his throat and answered, "Apologies, I realized we forgot to acquire beverages, would you all like me to grab you something?"

Without bothering to look up from his plate Citri gave the brief answer of "OJ."

Phoenix made eye contact, and briefly stared at Citri when saying, "Milk, PLEASE." as if to chastise the leader for what she considered a lack of manners.

Finally Celes replied, "Thank you, a glass of water would be lovely." Rain nodded in acknowledgement and walked off to go fetch drinks, and the team resumed eating. Citri apparently wanted to eat his full breakfast and get more, so he ate as fast as possible, only occasionally taking breaths. Phoenix made an effort to eat as neatly, and quickly as she could, trying her damnedest not to pig out like their leader. Celes had demolished her Fry-ups and taken a good chunk of her pancakes down when Rain finally returned.

He placed the orange juice in front of Citri, passed Phoenix a glass of milk, and handed Celes her ice water. However, next to his pile of food he placed two six packs of canned tomato juice. His teammates stared as Rain tore into his food like a wild animal, stopping after completing each portion of his full breakfast to shotgun one of the tomato juice cans, downing each one in a single gulp, slamming it onto the table and crushing it.

Phoenix spoke up as Celes and Citri tried to return to their breakfasts and ignore Rain's routine unorthodox behavior. "What the F-" Phoenix began to ask before Celes cut in, "Phoenix, Language." Phoenix repeated herself with a slight amendment, "What the heck are you doing?"

Rain replied, " Eating breakfast." in the same tone he would have answered the question "Is the sky blue?".

Phoenix rolled her eyes in annoyance and rephrased her question, "I mean why are you drinking twelve cans of tomato juice and eating that much food?"

Rain answered, "I'm hungry." in the same tone as before.

Phoenix let out some sort of groan of exasperation and asked, "No, Why are you drinking the cans in one go, and eating like you'll never see food again?"

Rain rolled his eyes and repeated himself, "I'm hungry."

Phoenix looked ready to strangle the boy as he adopted a smug look as he crossed his arms and looked straight into her rage filled crimson eyes. Rain asked, "Anymore questions? No? Back to breakfast then."

Phoenix let out an almost primal growl as she lunged across the table. Celes grabbed the girl and tried to hold her back as Rain stared straight at Phoenix and shotgunned the remaining cans, challenging the girl to stop him. Then something happened that threw them all for a loop.

"Well you all are certainly boisterous." Ilyada said as she walked to the table with the Zhu twins in tow. Each person carrying their respective meals. All the members of ANCY jumped about a foot in the air, but quickly greeted their allies to the Zhus had identical plates and sat together in unison as they picked food from each others trays. Ilyada had a plate of only meat and fruit eating an apple as she replied to the greetings from each member. All was calm. Until Celes made one fatal mistake.

"Hey Ilyada, is everything going ok?" the kindhearted girl asked in a sweet, concerned tone. Ilyada's eye twitched, what Celes considered a nice gesture and an offer of help, Ilyada interpreted as a direct challenge. One she took exception to.

She knew. Of course Celes knew, she had spoken with Vic about it. Admittedly Ilayda still didn't know what was said between the two. It could have been anything. Ru had said it was sweet, but she assumed that was more referring to Vic's side of the conversation. Then again, Celes was notoriously supportive to her friends. There was no way that she could have malicious intent behind the question.

But why would she bring it up?

The rational part of Ilayda's mind told her that it was probably nothing, or that the girl was simply, as usual, being friendly. Unfortunately, the rational part of Ilayda's brain was still cowering in fear from the less than rational side that had made itself prominent during the argument with Vic. Oh, how she was going to be having words with him very soon.

In retrospect, it was probably this anticipation of an argument with Vic, as well as still not thinking entirely clearly which prompted Ilayda to to what she did next.

Slamming her hands down on the table, and causing an indignant yelp from Citri as his drink splashed, Ilayda rose to her feet and bore in on Celes, "Don't!" she snapped.

Now, having Phoenix on their team, and having their leader being as...outgoing...as Citri was, Team ANCY were no strangers to furious women. With that said, even they felt slightly scared at sudden turn that Ilayda had taken.

While it was true that the girl was often brash, and ruthfully honest with her opinions, for the most part her temper was relatively well monitored. Compared to Phoenix at least. However, right now that was definitely not the case. While only a few minutes before everyone had taken Phoenix's growling in their stride, this sudden outburst left Team ANCY stunned and somewhat afraid.

Rain couldn't stop himself from releasing an instinctive squeak as his ears flattened against his head, an act which would have caused Celes to 'aww' at, were it not for the still snarling Ilayda baring her teeth only inches from Celes face.

After a few seconds it became clear that Ilayda wasn't moving, and being that he was sat next to her, it fell to Citri to approach the girl who remained leaning over the breakfast table. He shot a brief glance over to the Zhus, who each gave the surfer an apprehensive look.

Cautiously, Citri reached up to Ilayda, carefully and slowly placing his hand on her shoulder. "Hey 'Lyada, what's-"

He was cut off the second he made contact with her, Ilayda instantly flung her arm outwards, batting his hand away. Thankfully though, this did cause her to back off, glaring at the retreating Citri for a few seconds before shrinking back into her seat. She threw a vaguely apologetic look around the table before silently returning to her breakfast.

Celes earned herself a questioning volley of looks from her teammates, but she ended their silent interrogation by mouthing 'later' to them. A stern look from Phoenix kept the boys from pressing the matter any further.

Silence ensued.

* * *

To say that Team SAWR entered the cafeteria and conversations paused was accurate. Every table they passed on the way to the cue halted conversation, each person sitting at the table kept their head facing their plate, or each person shot them all dirty looks, glaring at them as though they were nothing more than dirt who had ruined the clean floors of the cafeteria. The four walked over to the queue and were promptly stopped by a line that stretched almost halfway to the door.

Reid let out a growl of displeasure, and Garren placed a hand on his leaders shoulder as if to pacify him. The student in front of Reid upon hearing the growl, turned to see the hulking form of the "Silent Giant" standing behind him.

The boy grabbed the three people in front of them and had them follow his lead, as far away from the line as possible. Breeze tried to grab the boy's shoulder and convince him to stay but was only met with a stuttering reply of, "I-i-i-it's O-o-o-okay, w-w-w-we were j-j-j-just g-g-g-getting seconds." as the boy backed away staring at Reid with fear.

Ried grunted at Breeze, as if to tell her not to bother with it, but his teammates could tell that Reid was a little sad that he unintentionally intimidated the poor boy into leaving. Klyde seeing the his leader's stormy grey eyes filled with disappointment tried to remedy the situation, "At least now we know it's all you can eat." he said, cheerful smile on his face as his headphones kicked into an upbeat pop song.

Reid nodded after a brief pause and smiled as they walked forward the line moving as teams were served.

After waiting for about ten minutes all the members had grabbed their breakfasts of choice. Reid had picked up a plate of French Toast, each slice lovingly coated with powdered sugar and honey. He also grabbed an rasher of bacon, and a glass of orange juice to wash it down with. Breeze had four different omelettes each fluffy, and stuffed with assorted meats, vegetables, and cheeses, as well as a tall glass of cranberry juice. Klyde had grabbed a special meal he called Chicken and Waffles deluxe. A pile of belgian waffles, covered in hot maple syrup, with half of a fried chicken sitting on top of the waffle pile, as well as apple halves forming a neat circle around the edge of the plate.. Klyde's team of course could only excuse a breakfast with this much coronary damage, if he drank nothing but water with it. Finally Garren had a plate of blueberry pancakes, coupled with hearty helpings of bacon, sausage, and eggs. A glass of apple juice accompanied him.

The four walked over to their table. Light conversation, filled with jokes and anecdotes about recent school events floated around them as they sat in the corner of the cafeteria at a pristine table, untouched by any other students in their year. They sat in the darkest corner with the best view, as Breeze put it, when she tried to cheer up her teammates, on their third day at Beacon, when they were practically put in social exile.

The four enjoyed their breakfast and each spent time doing what they usually did. Klyde used his scroll to remix songs, Garren chatted with Breeze about various topics, and Reid watched other teams. Reid had seen two teams almost break into a fight, the white haired girl in his Grimm studies class, and a navy haired girl from his history class being the almost instigators. It was times like this when he wished his team sat at a better table. He could tell things were in a delicate state now though, both teams were sitting in silence. "Hey Reid."

Reid turned to see Garren and Breeze looking at him expectantly. Reid replied with a quizzical grunt, as if asking what they wanted. Garren asked, "Which do you think is more important, pure ranged combat skills, or mixed ranged, and close range combat."

Reid replied with by holding up two fingers. Garren turned to Breeze, and said, "Told ya." tone playful and joking.

Breeze rolled her eyes and answered "Whatever". Reid returned to staring at the two teams, as he glanced at the entrance to the cafeteria he could tell things were going to get interesting.

The reason for this was that Victor Gale had just entered the room, and was currently looking like a deer caught in the headlights at the table which Reid himself had been observing. Reid knew that Vic was the leader of one of the teams sat there, given that they were top scoring in their class some level of fame was to be expected.

Despite never having had a conversation with him, Reid respected Vic. He was a leader, like Reid himself. Evidently he was a good one. That and the boy was also notoriously quiet, also like Reid, something which he connected with. So whatever it was that was making him freeze in such a way, Reid couldn't help but feel somewhat sympathetic for the distressed looking boy in green.

Well that's just great. As soon as he had walked in, Vic's eyes were immediately drawn to ANCY and VIPR's usual table, and as expected the seven other members of the two teams were sat there. And boy did they look quiet. In fact, they all seemed to be making a point of _not _speaking, and were instead staring with forced interest at their meals before them. Ooh, Rain and Citri's over sized fry-up looked good...bad time to side track. Vic looked over the seating arrangement and swore excessively within his head.

That was it. There was no god. Nope. None. No god would present him with this situation, ever. At all.

On one side of the table was Phoenix, Celes, Paio and Ru. On the other Rain, Citri, Ilayda and a space. So guess where he was sitting.

Given the way the morning had gone so far, the idea of sitting next to Ilayda was already unpleasant enough without the mortifying realisation that passed over him as he walked over to the food queue. She. Looked. Pissed.

Royally pissed. Giving Phoenix a run for her money pissed. Testicles retreating into body cavity pissed.

Oh man up Vic, no-ones even talking anyway… if that's remotely close to consolation.

Once he reached the end of the line, Vic grabbed as much food as he thought his twisting stomach could handle. Now the time had come, he could stall no longer. Taking cautious steps Vic made his way over to the eerily silent group of friends. A few looked up on his arrival, but nothing more than a brief nod was given in greeting. Drawing a shaky breath, Vic sat down next to Ilayda. She growled ferally.

Nope. They were not coming down for a while.

Vic looked wearily around the table, but none met his gaze. Everyone just sat there in silence eating, avoiding contact with anything other than their own plates. Breathing a sigh of relief, but making sure it was quite so as to not break the tension, Vic somewhat relaxed. Maybe he could get away with this after all.

"You took your time." Ilayda observed, voice betraying nothing.

Nope. Not out of the woods. Very, very not out of the woods. Good luck Vic.

"I, uh, had some trouble finding my things." Vic muttered. No idea why he was so nervous, it was the truth. He wasn't telling them about the armour-dressing gown part though. They didn't need to know that.

Ilayda just made a noise of what could only be described as annoyed skepticism. Clearly she needed more to go on than just that.

"Oh, uh, speaking of which. You guys seen my scroll?" Vic asked his team mates. Unsurprisingly, the Zhus didn't even look up. He didn't blame them.

"Here," Ilayda said, pulling out of her pocket and placing it on the table. Why did she have that?

"Thanks." Vic debated whether he even wanted to ask, it was obviously going to cause trouble trying to call her out on something. Fuck it, not a lot left to lose. "Why did you-?"

"How_ fucking_ dare you!" Ilayda roared, causing everyone in a three table span to flinch. She looked ready to continue, but then something happened. Something that all of ANCY could see coming, but were praying wouldn't. Surely Celes couldn't be that dumb.

"Language!" She scolded.

Oh. She was.

Citri began to retreat into himself, and Rain and Phoenix followed suite, all huddling in fear from what was to come next.

Ilayda's eye twitched as she turned to face her original aggravator. Another bestial snarl escaped her lips before she looked between Celes and Vic. "I'll get to you in a second," she told Celes, returning her attention to Vic.

"You went to them? You couldn't bring yourself to so much as_ talk_ to me but you could talk to them?" She roared. Had she been focused on anything other than showering Vic in spittle and fury, she would have noticed Rain mouthing 'them?' to Celes questioningly. Fortunately for the mouse boy, her attention was elsewhere.

"I-" Vic started, but to no avail. He was cut off straight away.

"Nope! No excuses, we went through all that shit this morning." She briefly threw a glance as Celes, threatening her to make a comment on the use of profanity. Not wanting to recreate last time, Celes begrudgingly stayed silent. "What did you say to them Vic?"

"How did you know-"

"Answer the goddamn question!"

"No you!" Vic yelled, in a very rare display of rather extreme emotion. Everyone, Ilayda included, was shocked. Vic never yelled. Ever. "How did you know that I'd spoken to her?"

"I just handed you back your scroll, how do you think I know?" Okay Ilayda, probably not wise to admit to invasion of privacy in an argument, too late now though.

"You went through my scroll?" Vic questioned, entirely unsure as to how to feel about such a thing. Ilayda was usually very respectful towards this kind of thing.

"Not really, I just looked at your message history. I don't know what was said." Ilayda confessed, momentarily dropping her anger slightly. It returned shortly after though. "That's why I want to know what the hell you were thinking! What did you say?"

Vic eyed her suspiciously. DId she look at his messages? If she had already taken his scroll and seen who he had spoken to, it wasn't a big jump to assume that she had seen the conversation. In which case she would know that he was only asking for help. And Celes hadn't even given it anyway.

Was she trying to catch him lying? Was this some sort of test to see if he would weasel out of the argument?

"I just asked for help." Vic said simply, testing the reaction her would get.

Did he just say that. Did he actually just say that he was asking for help. Help! "HELP?" Ilayda bellowed to a point she could feel a pulling at her lungs. "What exactly do you mean by 'help'?"

"Well, I didn't really know what to do so I spoke to Celes-" Ilayda's head snapped back to the aforementioned girl, who received an apologetic look from Vic.

"And what exactly did she say, Vic?" Ilayda pressed, her voice lowered but no less aggressive.

Vic sighed, "She didn't. She told me she wanted no part in it." He said truthfully, avoiding looking at anyone out of shame.

A likely story. Ilayda knew Celes was notoriously supportive. She was friendly. She was kind and helpful. There was no way she would refuse help to a friend in need. No way.

"Umhmm," Ilayda continued in a disbelieving tone, boring into Vic with her narrowed eyes. "Are you sure about that?"

Now Vic was confused. He'd told the truth and yet he still wasn't getting anywhere. Maybe she hadn't read his messages after all. Unsure what to do, he threw Celes a pleading look, begging for some kind of reinforcement.

Big mistake. Huge. Ilayda noticed the look that was shared between her two interrogation suspects. Everything was starting to build up. Vic was evidently hiding something. Celes was far too kind to avoid helping him. And now Vic was trying to subtly tell her something. Something was going on here.

"It's true, I wanted to help but-" Celes never finished her protest. In a mirror image of the start of breakfast, Ilayda rose from her seat with a slam of her hands and moved in on Celes.

She was sticking up for him. She was going along with Vic's bull. Yep, there was definitely something here, and it was starting to become very apparent what that something was.

The late night conversation. Vic's unwillingness to talk to Ilayda the next day. His lies and excuses. That 'walk' he went on earlier, in his pyjamas no less. Celes starting an argument earlier. Vic lying and making more excuses and Celes backing him up. The fact that they were both clearly hiding something. Ru! Ru had said that Vic had been "Very sweet". Nowhere did she say that the sweetness had been directed at Ilayda. Oh. This was just perfect.

Ilayda leaned in, glaring down her nose at the retreating Celes, who was quickly running out of stool to lean back on. When they were close enough that Celes could feel Ilayda's rapid breathing on her face, Ilayda finally spoke.

It was quite, simple, and oddly calm. There was very little aggression or anger in her tone. There were however traces of something far more sinister, that Celes couldn't quite put her finger on due to being rather preoccupied with the very angry girl right in her face.

"Did you fuck him?"

And then, something happened which no-one saw coming. Celes' eyes narrowed to match Ilayda's own, and she slowly rose from her chair until she was level with the furious girl. Granted she wasn't thinking clearly, but how dare she accuse her of such a thing! A cocky smile spread across half of Celes face.

"Language." She replied. Both scolding and taunting at the same time.

Everyone at the table gawped in absolute awe. What had possessed Celes to think that was in any way a good idea? Vic, now fearing for his life also paled considerably. Now she'd done it. Goddamit, he'd almost gotten away with it as well.

Ilayda didn't know what pissed her off more about that one word. The defiance. The cockiness. The taunting. The fact she wasn't denying it. Oh this was going to be satisfying.

Her hand had just made contact with the crossbow-axe when the sound of a sword being drawn met Ilayda's ears.

Leaning over a very distressed looking Citri, was Rain, sword in hand and separating the two arguing girls. Anyone could see though, that despite the angle, it was clearly pointed more towards Ilayda.

"Nuh-uh." Rain said simply, making it clear that this was not going to become a full blown fight.

Sensing the chance to win some good points, and not wanting this to escalate any further, Vic drew one of his blades and matched Rain's pose, looking the Faunus in the eye as he did so.

"Woah, woah woah." Citri said, still ducking underneath Rain's outstretched arm. "Let's all just calm down for a second, huh?"

And that was when Phoenix joined in. Following Rain's example and rushing to her partner's aid, Phoenix too drew her sword, and added it to the growing collection of blades that formed a barrier between the two girls who were still locked in a vicious stare down.

"Guys?" Citri snapped, trying to defuse the situation, a battle he had little faith in winning. The Zhus appeared to share his goal of pacifying the edgy swordsmen in the middle of the table, but naturally they wouldn't do anything about it.

Fuck it, there were already three weapons drawn, and Celes' hands were lingering by hers. one more wouldn't make a difference. Extending his staff to full length, but taking care not to draw either of the blades, Citri used the pole like weapon to reach across the table and simultaneously raise Rain and Phoenix's swords above their heads and out of harms way.

When he was sure that the two wouldn't bring their weapons back to face the other team, he leaned across and did the same for Vic. Slowly and peacefully parrying the weapon away from everyone. He gave Vic an appreciating smile for his co-operation, before fixing his team mates with a stern look.

"Now then, how about we try and settle this without resorting to pointing overly glorified butter knives at one another?" He suggested, orange eyes burning into all he observed. He may be a joker and something of a lay about, but at times it was very evident why he was leader. An example of this came almost immediately after, when Rain opened his mouth to protest the insult that Citri had thrown at his prized weapon. No words were spoken however, as the leader silently told his teammate and partner that now was most certainly not the time.

Celes and Ilayda still hadn't moved, but for the most part everyone else seemed relatively calm all things considered. Perhaps they might have actually been able to solve this without issue.

Nope.

The two girls gridlocked against one another had drawn their weapons, and by the time all eyes were once again on them, everyone could see what both parties had tried to make a one hit fight.

Ilayda's crossbow was pulled down to the table, pointed uselessly away from anything. However, it was being pulled down by Celes' whip, meaning that the dust user couldn't really attack without risking Ilayda getting her aim back.

Just like that, all weapons were raised again. Citri once again fumbled with his staff in an attempt to beat off any undue violence, but this time his attempts were met for more resistance. The Zhus reached for their own weapons, wanting to assist Citri in his peace campaign when the bell rang. Breakfast was now over, and all first years had to report for launch.

* * *

Reid reeled back in his seat as the bell rang. Poor Vic. Half the school had heard the blue haired girl's yelling. Hell everyone within three tables had left in fear of the potential battle that was about to ensue. Still that bell ring had prevented a dangerous fight from breaking out. Each team was prying their respective participant in the battle away from each other and towards opposite exits as Reid turned his attention back to his teammates. They all had different reactions to what they had seen.

Garren was trying to direct his teams focus back to graduation, Breeze was complaining about not having a good view, and Klyde was uncharacteristically quiet. His teammates noticed this and attempted to try and snap him out of his silence. Klyde looked at all three of his teammates, eyes wide with disappointment and said, "No cat fight?"

Garren started laughing and Reid chuckled at Klyde's genuine sadness at the lack of a girl on girl fight. Breeze however frowned at her team and muttered, "Sexist pigs."

Klyde frowned and his headphones changed songs, he replied, "Aw girl don't be like that, we know you wanted a fight no matter how you act."

Breeze fired back, "Hey, I wanted a good match out of wanting to see if Team VIPR members could fight on their own. Not see two random chicks go at it."

"Guys we should get to the cliff." Garren interjected trying to get his teammates attention back. Reid grunted in agreement and started trudging off Garren in tow. Breeze and Klyde followed suit, their argument continuing.

* * *

The wind blew in the air, as each first year team stood on a pad. Beacon cliff was packed with First year teams staring off into the vast Emerald Forrest, Professor Ozpin and the ever present Glynda Goodwitch stood before all of them as Ozpin began his pre exam speech.

"Today, you will all learn the rules of nature." the statement was met with uneasy murmurs.

"You will either survive and graduate, or fail and die." more uneasy murmurs.

"The Emerald Forest has been filled with even more Grimm, and to top it off, This is the prime mating season for most of the creatures who occupy this wood." silence.

"You all will enter the forest and for the next three days, survive with nothing but the clothes on your back, and the weapons in your hands, any questions?" more silence.

Ozpin smiled warmly and took a sip from the mug in his hands. "Excellent, prepare for launch" he concluded. Each of the teams stood on their pad and got into their stances.

Team ANCY looked mildly nervous as each member looked to one another. Team VIPR's members did almost the opposite, Vic and Ilyada both refusing to look at one another, with Piao and Ru adopting mirror like stances. Finally Team SAWR stood confidently out into the forest, as if to dare the forest to do it's worst.

Three sounds were heard like bells. And then all of the pads were launched simultaneously, sending each team sailing, into the doom filled forest below.

* * *

Three teams sail off into the death filled forest, but how many shall return? How will they all survive in the face of unimaginable terror with naught but their skills, and comrades to rely on? Let us hope, that they can erase the lines that have been drawn between them.

* * *

_**Well that happened. How will our three teams survive three days in a forest crawling with mating Grimm? How will they repair their team bonds? How will you all cope with the weak long wait for each chapter? one last thing. Depending on your response this may happen again in the future.I am Kurt the Mortician and I hope this laid your worries, fears, and troubles to rest. **_

_So I really hope you enjoyed this, cause we definitely loved to write it. Man it really was such a blast to write ALONGSIDE Kurt. Sorry, I just can't get over that part. Anyway, troubles have been set, people are on edge and fighting is about to ensue. But with Grimm or eachother (Dun dun dunnnnnn) As always, feedback is brilliant it lets us know what you think. Lilo out._


	6. Chapter 5

**_Ladies and Gentlemen, Lads and Lasses, Beautiful People I am Kurt the Mortician, and I bet you all thought this wouldn't come out today. Lilo and I put in the effort to deliver you this chapter, and make sure it was amazing. He sadly couldn't be here for the author's note. But I will, be strong, for him. He's been really busy with a lot of things though, so the fact that he could be here for so much of this chapter is incredible, and one of the many reasons why he remains my dear dear partner. That and no one else could put up with me. Either way, I hope you all have as much fun reading this as we did writing this. By the way. 6.1K words on this Chapter!_**

* * *

Arc 1: Rules of Nature

Chapter 5: Catharsis

* * *

It is said that a house divided against itself can not stand. But can a team divided against itself still survive? Let us follow the broken Team VIPR and see if they can recover their cooperation

* * *

Vic flew through the air alongside his team feeling for the first time this day, in control. He unsheathed both of his swords and with a flick of his wrist converted the blades into their shotgun form. Using the recoil from each shot he fired he redirected his momentum across the trees, skipping across them like a stone on a pond.

Vic turned and looked to see that Piao and Ru had connected themselves using Piao's chain whip, and had locked themselves into a spiral motion, like a bola. They eventually made contact with a tree, and the two slid down without any damage to either of them.

Ilyada had chosen a more aggressive approach swinging her axe through anything that crossed her path. Each swing slowed her descent and beheaded whatever poor tree was in her way. Vic hated seeing this side of her, and chose to focus instead on his own landing strategy.

Despite how rotten his day had been he couldn't help but feel a smile across his face, as redirected himself in the air with each shot, feeling like a bird of some sort. Of course this ended as he hit a large section of branches and came out stumbling across the ground. He smiled internally, as he stretched and glanced around the forest. The Zhu twins were jogging up to meet him, and Ilyada was following them, scowling and refusing to look anywhere near Vic. Well, should've expected that.

Ilyada politely skirted around the Zhu's but violently brushed past Vic, as she stormed off ahead into the forest. The twins walked up to Vic, Ru looked particularly guilt ridden.

The three shared a worried moment as Ilayda continued into the forest, her team following shortly behind her wading their way through the growing tension that was enveloping the team.

Ru was the first to speak, attempting to bridge the gap between Ilyada and Vic, "We should probably find somewhere to take shelter." She suggested. They were going to be here for days, and there was no guarantee that the weather would hold.

Piao and Vic remained silent, with Ilyada's only response being a low grunt of what could probably be considered approval...buried of course under layers upon layers of anger and malice.

They continued like this for a while, with Ilayda half leading the way and half storming furiously along, the twins providing a mediating barrier in the middle and Vic bringing up the rear and remaining ungodly quiet, even for him.

It was more by random chance than actual searching when Piao spotted a rocky outcropping to the left of rough trail that Ilyada was carving out using her axe. Said person had walked straight past the rock wall, not really paying attention to anything other than the chopping of vegetation.

Not wanting to be the one to break the silence, Piao nudged his sister who in turn rolled her eyes before calling out to the blue haired pile of rage burning ahead of them.

"Think we found something." She half shouted, as Ilyada was widening the gap with every stride. Ru almost thought that the girl hadn't heard her, as she continued on her way for a good few feet before finally stopping.

With a sigh, Ilyada turned to face her three waiting team mates. They had all gathered around a patch where the plant life stopped for a few feet, exposing a rock wall to some sort of small cliff or out cropping.

Vic avoided her gaze like the plague, and was currently occupying himself by following along the wall, noticing that it continued for longer than expected. It must have been hidden by the thick trees and bushes that lined it. In fact he was looking at it quite intently. Studying it almost.

"Vic?" Ilyada spoke before she could stop herself, curiosity beating out her frustration.

Vic froze up. Entirely. As soon as he heard her voice he expected insults. Yelling. Anger. More insults. Maybe some punches.

What he most certainly did not expect was the innocent, genuinely curious tone that now presented him. Quite frankly, it threw him.

"What are you looking at?" the blue haired girl asked, slight frustration entering her voice as Vic returned to examining the rock.

Upon taking a step closer she could see what was captivating his attention. The outcropping split in two with a loose crack in the rock face. A cave.

Vic was looking at a cave.

In fact, he was examining it meticulously, his eyes scrutinising every detail of the rocks before him. Something was playing on his mind, and the focused expression told Ilayda that it was something more important than inner-team squabbling.

Piao and Zhu meanwhile had decided to pry some rocks from the cave entrance to widen it out some for Ilyada and Vic, however as the two moved more rocks they could almost hear a low hissing noise, along with a faint chittering noise. The two shrugged this off and continued their work.

Vic stared intently at the faint red markings on the rocky surface before him. Almost humanoid shapes fighting a faded shape, it looked a bit like a scorpion. This was clearly a warning, but a warning of what? It felt obvious, but cryptic at the same time. It was a little maddening.

"Vic!" Ilyada screamed into the boy's ear ripping him out of his thoughts. He looked at her, almost afraid to respond.

Ilayda gestured to the cave walls around them, then to the markings that Vic was looking at. "Gonna help out, or you studying art now?" the sneer in her voice barely contained.

Unsure whether or not be thankful for such a relatively tame remark from his partner, Vic joined the others in exploring the cave. It was shallow, and natural light was still pouring into the entrance. From what could be seen by the four teens half-crouching in the cave, about twelve foot back from the entrance, the roof had collapsed, leaving the back of the cave little more than a pile of stones.

The crouching became sitting as Ilyada and Vic were left alone to guard the cave as the twins left to get fire wood.

Minutes of awkward silence passed as Ilyada refused to speak to her partner, the boy in question merely studied the floor as if it were a subject of great interest. Finally, Vic decided to see if he could patch things up. Maybe she had calmed down.

"So, what-" Vic began saying but was quickly cut short by a fierce growl from Ilyada. She definitely was not calm. She faced the boy, charcoal black irises filled with smoldering anger.

"Nothing to say? Ok then, maybe you can answer my questions." Ilyada said harshly, Vic merely backed off, in a desperate attempt to keep things calm.

"So why her?" Ilyada asked simply, her voice maintaining it's edge.

Vic answered, "I didn't-"

"Don't bullshit me!" again he was cut off by the girl. She really believed he had done...that with Celes.

That was when the rumbling began.

Gradually at first, the fallen rock at the back began to shift, cascading down in a very miniature rock slide. It was Piao who first noticed that one of the fallen rocks was an off amber colour...and...glowing.

He tapped his sister on the shoulder to get her attention, but by then she too had seen the mysterious glow.

"Time to go!" were Ru's only words as she and her brother simultaneously turned on their heels and bolted for the exit, with Vic and Ilyada soon catching up.

Team VIPR ran out of the cave, Ilyada and Vic making it out first, the twins leaping back as the Deathstalkers charged out of the cave, sending rocks flying every which way. Piao drew his chain whip and assumed a combat stance next to Ru, who had drawn her Butterfly sword and had entered a stance mirroring his. Vic rushed to join the twins, as one deathstalker alone is a difficult opponent. Ilyada however, took this as an opportunity to vent her emotions and frustrations, she charged in axe in hand ready to hack the large armored scorpions to bits.

In her blind charge she dodged one of the scorpions attacks and performed a series of vicious swings, each hit slightly chipping into, but doing no serious damage to the beast. She did succeed in capturing it's attention though, and was locked into a deadly dance with the menacing creature.

Vic noticed a hissing noise behind them, and turned to see a King Taijitu winding towards them. The twins, had engaged the other Deathstalker, Piao keeping the Grimm's focus with his whip, and Ru launching quick attacks it was distracted. That left this large two headed snake for Vic to fight on his own.

Deciding to opt for a more cautious strategy, Vic kept one sword in shotgun form, and the other in it's blade form. He fired blasts at one head with the gun, and attacked the other with the sword, this strategy worked well,however the creature was beginning to get clever, attacking Vic in his blind spots.

Ilyada faced similar difficulties, her attacks did virtually nothing to the creatures thick armor. Her axe's crossbow bolts, would be even less effective. The girl was too stubborn, and caught up in her anger to ask her teammates for help, as she tried to keep up her assault against her much stronger opponent.

The twins both noticed, their leader, and his partner struggling. Neither of them could single handedly beat their respective opponents. The twins themselves were only holding up because of their exceptional team work. Both Piao and Ru moved in near perfect synchronization as they alternated who attacked, and who distracted. Their leader was getting closer and closer to being out maneuvered with each attack the dual headed serpent made, and Ilyada was within a hairs breadth of being hit every time the Deathstalker lashed out at her. The four of them could only survive if they worked together, and that couldn't happen until Ilyada and Vic got over their fight.

Piao made the first move yelling, "Ru!" Ru immediately picked up on her brother's intentions, and slid under the Deathstalker she was fighting. As soon as she has on the other side of the great armored beast, her brother was distracting said beast, giving her a chance to assist leader.

She charged at the head currently rocketing towards Vic and sunk her butterfly sword into it's neck, tearing across the creatures throat. Vic took the opportunity to put a sword in one eye of the head he was facing, and a shotgun shell in the other, finishing the King Taijitu once and for all. He yanked his sword out of the creatures eye and turned to face Ru. She had pulled her own blade from the creatures other neck and looked to be awaiting orders.

Vic shook himself out of his uncertainty. The twins needed him. He may be fighting with Ilyada, but they didn't deserve to suffer for it. Vic decided he would pull himself together for their sake.

"Keep the Deathstalker off balance. Go for the legs." He ordered, snapping into leader mode.

Ru smiled at the sight of Vic pulling himself out of his rut. She nodded and replied, "Got it." before rushing off to help her brother.

Vic shifted his sword into shotgun form, and held leveled the dual shotguns he held at the Deathstalker Ilyada was trying desperately to fight alone. He took a deep breath, and charged in guns blazing.

Ilyada knew her attacks weren't working. No matter how hard she swung her axe into the great lumbering scorpion, each attack had the effect of a poke. She yelled as she grew more and more enraged at how she couldn't defeat the foe before her. Suddenly blasts of scattershot peppered into the Deathstalker.

She saw Vic charging in head first to assist her. He thought she needed help. He thought she couldn't take care of herself. She swung the flat of her axe into her leaders armor knocking him back. She stared at him, completely enraged and yelled, "I don't need your help! I don't need you! I have to be able to fight on my own!"

The girl heard movement behind her, and barely managed to dodge out of the way of the stinger tipped tail that crashed into where she once stood.

Come on Vic, try and stay diplomatic here. "Look I know we're not on the best of terms-" he was cut off by a swinging claw. He parried well enough to avoid being cut clean in two, but unfortunately the angle was awkward and Vic was knocked off his feet, landing close to his partner.

"I can do this." Ilayda said sternly before Vic had a chance to continue his thought.

The leader simply rolled his eyes, praying the act wouldn't make Ilayda too angry, "It's not going down with you by yourself."

Instead of responding Ilayda simply charged towards the Grimm, blanking Vic and focusing solely on trying to sever one of the claws.

Swinging with all her strength she knocked the claw back, before quickly switching the weapon and firing off a crossbow bolt into the now exposed elbow joint. As the creature writhed in pain from the successful strike Ilayda charged again, following up her shot with more swings from her axe-bow's blade.

It was only a deep grunt and the sound of clashing metal which stopped her ruthless series of attacks, none of which had been as effective as she hoped.

Turning her head to the side she saw that Vic was now crossing his swords in an attempt to hold off the stinger that was barely a foot away from her head.

"Let me do this!" She yelled

And now Vic was angry, Ilayda was going to risk killing her self out of a petty fight…no no that wasn't it. Of course. She was trying to prove herself. Again. Goddamit.

Then she heard a reply, as loud and angry as her original tirade against her leader. "So what!? So you can be your parents!?"

He didn't just say that. That little shit did not just say that. As soon as this thing was dead she would rip his tongue out through his teeth. She swung into the creature's tail as it was stuck in the ground, chopping the beast's stinger clean off the tail, and causing the beast to skitter back some.

Vic could see rage burning in her charcoal eyes. He knew this subject was touchy on a good day. That addressing it now was a really bad idea. But something inside him told him that this was the reason they broke up. That the fight this morning was because of Ilyada's fear of graduation was really her fear of not measuring up to her parents. He fired a few more shots at the Deathstalker as it charged toward them, slowing the giant armored scorpion.

"What would you know?! You haven't spent your whole life in the shadow of your family!"

The girl snapped back as she let off a flurry of attacks into the creature.

"I know that it's the reason you're so worried about today! I know that it's what you fear the most! The idea that you'll never be as good as they are!" Vic roared back, following up the girl's attack on the Deathstalker, firing shots at the creatures eyes, forcing the creature back.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" The navy haired girl screeched back at her dark brown haired aggressor. She leapt into the air and crashed down onto the scorpion, her blade for once, sinking into one of the creature's eyes.

"But you'll never be them! You'll only ever be you!" Vic yelled back at Ilyada as he blasted two of the creature's other eyes. The large creature skittered back half into the cave, retreating.

"Shut up." She cried eyes welling up with tears as she teetered on the edge of outright sobbing.

Brown eyes met Charcoal eyes, as the two stared at each other in the midst of battle.

"You're not just a Yilmaz. You're so much more," her leader said, his tone surprisingly gentle,

"You're Ilyada, my partner, a member of team VIPR, and one day, an even better hunter than either of your parents."

Ilyada stared at Vic, her vision blurry with tears, as she squeaked out, "Really?"

Vic stared back at her and answered, "Really. Now let's crush these things!" As he turned to face the Deathstalker lashing at them from the cave mouth. Ilyada wiped her eyes and hefted her axe as she asked, "What's the plan?"

Vic looked at the cracked arc of rocks forming the cave entrance, then at the beast positioned under it. He shifted his guns into their sword forms, and answered, "I'll keep it busy, nail the rocks over it's head."

The two charged in head first. Vic launched slash after slash against the Deathstalker, swinging the blade into the beast's claws and head. Ilyada jumped past him and swung her axe straight into the weakened rocks above the beasts head. This swing caused the cave entrance to collapse on the armored scorpion and crack open the armor on it's head. Both Vic and Ilyada buried their weapons in this chink in the armor and looked at each other. The two yanked their weapons out of the now dead Grimm and continued looking at eachother before remembering something.

"The Twins!" the two half yelled in sync as they wheeled around to see said brother and sister locked in a stalemate with the other Deathstalker that had emerged from their shelter cave. Vic and Ilyada rushed forward to assist the two.

Both twins had assumed a stance, Piao on the right, Ru on the left. Their weapons began to shift into one single weapon, a hand cannon. Ru pulled out a cannon ball from a pouch on her robe and loaded it into the end and the two fired dead center into the Deathstalker's head, as Vic ran down the creatures right side slashing it's legs and Ilyada ran down the left side slashing it's other set of legs. The poor creature was left unable to run as the cannon ball exploded on contact with it's armored head, reducing said head to a red crater.

The four team members of Team VIPR stood side by side, silence surrounding them as the sounds of night in the Emerald forest surrounded them. Vic cleared his throat and said, "Well that happened."

Ilyada rolled her eyes and replied, "No duh, sherlock."

Piao piped up, "Shelter."

His sister nodded and added onto her brothers one word sentence, "We definitely need a new place to sleep."

Vic replied, "Well, guess we've got all night to search."

His team all nodded assent, as the trudged off into the forest, weapons at the ready for whatever dared to challenge the reunited team.

The Emerald Forest was scary during the day. At night, it was terifying. But the four teens had managed to bumble through the woods, and find a lake. A lake with water that shimmered in the moonlight, and had a clear view of the starry sky and shattered moon that graced Remnant's sky.

It was perfect. Half of their camp wouldn't need to be watched due to the water, they had an easy source of getting freshened up in the morning and best of all the forest thinned out as it neared the shoreline, making the detection of any potential hunters very easy for them. After doing a breif scan to ensure their safety, the four took to setting down in the shorter grass that skirted the edge of the lake. A rudimentary fire pit was set up, and after a lot of failed attempts a reasonable fire had started. The team set up a watch system for the night. Slumbering ensued.

Or at least, it ensued for as long as the weather held. A few hours.

Before the sun had even began to rise the shattered moon was hidden behind black clouds. The dull glow of the remaining embers was extinguished as the heavens opened and rain began to set up on their makeshift campsite.

Paio was on watch at the time, but it didn't make a whole lot of difference. With no overhead shelter the other three were woken before he could call out.

"We should probably get to the trees," Ru told her team, all of which were groggy from their awakening.

"Grimm" Paio countered, pointing out the major flaw in Ru's plan. Without the moon, visibility was greatly reduced, and the jet black fur of Grimm made for perfect night ambushes.

"Rain," was Ilayda's bitter one worded response. If she had been pissed before, missing sleep had made her out right demonic.

"We can fight Grimm better than we can rain" Vic pointed out, already shuffling for the cover of the treeline.

Ru nodded enthusiastically, running up to her leader. Her brother followed shortly after, ever compliant with his twin's ideas, even with minimal convincing. Giving an angry snarl, Ilayda eventually followed suit, sprinting to catch up to the others.

"Figures you'd take _her_ side." She muttered with quite venom as she passed Vic.

"What?" He responded, genuinely asking since the background noise of the falling water had muted her grumbling too much to be audible.

Not realising this, and taking it as a challenge, the brash girl snapped her head to give Vic a furious growl, something any nearby students could easily have mistaken for a Beowolf...maybe an Ursa.

"Still angry?" he asked meekly, confused as he thought the whole saving her life business had sorted things for the most part.

"Damn right I am! You fucking cheated on me!"

Evidently it hadn't

"What? Are you still on about that? No I didn't!" Vic protested, still confused

"Don't give me that 'we were broken up' bullshit. One day Vic. ONE DAY!"

"No, no no no! I literally didn't. We didn't!" Vic insisted.

"Right." Ilayda snarked, not buying a word of it

"Oh my God. We didn't! How many times do I have to say it !"

"As many as it takes for you to stop lying to me!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Just admit it, Vic!"

"COME ON!"

"I don't get why this is being such a problem, just admit that you're doing little miss perfect!"

"Given how little you put out, do you really think if I was getting any that I'd stay quiet about it!"

Oh that's done it. Why did he say that? Godammit Vic. Bad move. Bad, bad bad move.

Ilayda just walked off, wordlessly but not before she fixed Vic with the most agonising gaze he'd seen in the past week. Her rage filled fire was gone. What he saw was much worse. In those coal black eyes the only thing he saw was ice. Feelings frozen over out of hurt and betrayal.

Ru shook her head, looking sadly a Vic before following Ilayda. Piao followed close behind. Even the twins knew how badly he had just messed up.

He knew he had to go after them, if he stayed by himself then there was slim chance of him surviving until the last day. Sighing and handing his head in pure shame and disgrace, Vic eventually worked up the resolve to plod silently along behind the rest of his team, making sure he gave them ample space to themselves.

The four stayed in silence for hours, just walking along. They were walking when the rain finally stopped, they were walking when the sun began to break through the tops of the trees, they were walking when their stomachs yelled from not being fed in almost a full day. Well actually, that last one caused them to stop and take stock of their situation.

They had no camp. The last time they ate was breakfast the day before. Vic was a dick. They had barely survived a fight. They were lost. Vic was a dick. They had been going in circles, as evident by the passing of a distinct rock for the fourth time. Vic was a dick.

Then, unexpectedly, Ru began walking away from the others, stopping after a few paces to see if the others followed. Thankfully they did. Ru continued to lead the way until…

"Ta da!" They were back at the lake.

"How did…?" Vic asked, his very voice bringing upon an aggressive rumble in Ilayda's throat.

"Recognised a tree," The girl responded, walking back over to the spot that they had first slept in and subconsciously holding her middle. They really needed food.

"Given the weather is it really wise we-" Vic stopped mid sentence as Ilayda pushed past him and waded to about shin depth in the lake. After a few minutes the sound of a bolt being fired as met instantaneously with a splash, and then a few swears.

Piao, from the shore, called out to Ilayda, guessing that she was attempting some form of harpoon fishing. "Water refracts light. If you aim for the fish you miss."

Giving yet another growl Ilayda vented at the poor boy briefly "Where the fuck am I meant to aim then?"

Unfortunately, that was the part that Piao didn't know and since the quiet boy couldn't give an answer and was therefore subjected to a barrage of swears and insults from the would be fisherman.

As this was going on, Vic too had waded out into the water, though he had given himself a fair distance from everyone else for his own safety. Ilayda's rant was cut short at the sound of a shotgun blast.

As the three members of VIPR turned towards Vic, they were met with the sight of their leader looking somewhat sheepish. In his right hand was a smoking shotgun-sword, in his left a fish. Or the remains of one. Most of the face was mush due to concentrated buckshot.

After a few more shots were fired, Vic had finally 'caught' enough fish that three reasonable servings could be salvaged from the parts of their bodies that weren't decimated by the firearm.

Knowing that the only way he could begin to apologise for his words was to put his team first, Vic handed the fish to Ru to cook and went back into the water under the prentence of trying to catch more food.

The truth was that he was simply refusing to eat, letting his team take the food for themselves. There was no way he could catch more, the fish had been scared off for a while and he strongly doubted that they would be returning.

Piao, silent and wiley, had caught onto Vic's plan and called the boy over under the disguise of having something important to say.

As soon as Vic sat down with the others Piao dropped the remains of the fish meat into Vic's hands and immediately began to explain himself. "You're not catching anything, you need to eat as much as us."

"You guys needed it more," was his weak defence

"No, you were just putting us first." Piao responded with a grateful smile, one which Ru mirrored

"About time" Ilayda muttered, though no-one replied

"Really, you should have it." Vic protested, though the twins both just shook their heads at him, "C'mon you deserve it."

"More than you" another grumbled weigh in from the navy haired girl.

"Exactly!" Vic agreed, not really caring that he was confessing to intentionally giving up his food out of guilt.

Piao, backed by his sibling, stubbornly refused to take the food back, an act that caused Ilayda to snort in disgust and roll her eyes.

Deciding that her leader had been subjugated to enough abuse, Ru decided to stand up for Vic despite her not at all agreeing with his less than kind words earlier.

With a sigh, she confessed to Ilayda and Vic her knowledge of the situation, something that Ilayda barely knew and which Vic was still entirely in the dark about.

"They didn't sleep together," she said, trying to pacify their moping team-mate.

"How would you know?" Ilayda bit back

"I read his scroll, remember?" This prompted a questioning look from Vic, however Piao shook his head and mouthed 'later' to him, Vic complied and returned to listening. "He just asked for her help. He was honest at breakfast."

Regardless of the obvious invasion of privacy, Vic couldn't help but smile at finally having an ally in this bitter argument between him and his ex. Ilayda, however, was not so easily won over.

"And he was honest back there as well." This time, she was more sad than angry, the burning fire once again replaced with fragile ice.

She was right, Vic had gone too far. Worst, he hadn't even apologised for it. It'd just been too awkward at the time. Still, nothing stopping him now, and from her breaking voice and almost watery eyes, Vic guessed that it was something that was sorely needed about now.

"Im sorr-"

"I'm sorr-"

The two had spoken at once. It would appear that despite her being upset at Vic's words, she wasn't above admitting when she herself had done something wrong. She had been furious with Vic for a whole DAY before he had even said that, and it was now clear that the fault for that was with her, not him. He had told the truth and she had spat it back in his face for it.

"I'm sorry." Vic finished, while Ilayda was still recovering from the surprise. She knew she had to choose her next words carefully. Things were certainly not okay between them, and there was still a good distance to go before these problems were solved, but she had been going to apologise and that at least was something she could follow through with.

"I'm sorry too."

It was accepting his, it wasn't saying everything was okay, but it was her own confession of being in the wrong, and it was as good a place to start as any.

Ru and her brother smiled at the sight of their leader and his partner finally squashing their little spat. However she believed that only one thing could get them out of this issue once and for all. The thing that had been the root cause of it. "Vic, why don't you show her what was in the messages?"

The comment felt more like a suggestion than a question, but Vic could take the hint. He fished his scroll out of a pant's pocket and was once again grateful that it was waterproof. He unfolded it and pulled up his message history. He took a deep breath. This was going to get embarassing.

"Hey, Celes, can I have some help with something? Sure what is it? Ilyada and I broke up." Vic stated clearly, maintaining a calm voice as Ilyada watched him with interest. He continued, "What, why? A lot of different reasons, I just don't know what to do. What do you mean? Well should I try and talk to her about it, should I try and change, what do I do?"

Ilyada felt worse as she heard each message, she berated him for an entire day, because she assumed something, when this is what was really happening. Still that recent comment was too far. Nothing would change that.

Vic took another breath, things were about to get a little...personal. He said, "Look Vic, I can't help you. Celes...I really care about her, I want to do what's best for her. Then you can't go wrong with whatever you do."

Vic's earlier comment was washed away with these last three messages. If Vic cared this much about her the night of their breakup, then she could forgive his comments today. If he said any of that again though. Ilyada got up and punched him in the shoulder, "Why didn't you read these to me sooner dumbass!" The girl asked in exasperation.

"It's embarrassing to read that out loud." Vic answered, rubbing his arm, smiling.

"No, it's nice, We're good Vic." Ilyada said as she walked to and dropped back into her seat, turning to look at the lake as the sun began to settle on the horizon.

"Really?" The brown eyed leader asked.

"Really." His navy haired partner answered.

As the sun set and night fell, the team slumbered through the evening, it's leader however awoke in time to see the sun rise.

He stared up at the sky, as the stars were fading, and it shifted from a deep navy, to a lighter blue thinking. Looks like Ozpin was right. Our team has always worked together well, it would only make sense that this problem could only be solved if we all talked together. I wish he could have been less cryptic about it. Suddenly,Vic heard rustling. He quickly stood and drew one of his swords only to see Ilyada waking up and quickly holding her hands up in surrender. He sheathed his blade and returned to sitting on the ground. She took a seat next to him.

"Looks like we'll have to make way for the cliff today." She stated simply.

"Yep, want me to wake up the twins?" He asked, gesturing to Piao and Ru.

"Nah let 'em sleep a little longer." She answered. And so the two sat until the twins and the sun had risen.

Team VIPR made it's way through the forest one final time. The team had Ilyada scale a tree occasionally and confirm that they were heading in the same direction as the cliff. Today when the four went through, they were quiet. When they had to fight, they kept their enemies off balance and dispatched with them quickly. They moved through the forest enjoying each other's company rather than fighting with one another. And as the sun was setting, the scaled the cliff, and reached it's apex, standing before Ozpin covered in dirt,and sweat, but united, and successful.

* * *

And so it was that team VIPR completed the graduation exam. But what of Team ANCY and Team SAWR, perhaps next time we will take a look at what their getting up to

* * *

**_Reunited and It feels so good! Reunited cause it's understood! no singing though from me, I'm rather terrible at it. Still this chapter was loads of fun, and really hard to get right. We almost split this chapter into two separate ones but it worked out so serendipitously. Please don't forget ot read and review, it lets me know if I'm doing my job right, or it's time for a performance review. I am Kurt the Mortician, and I hope this laid your troubles, worries, and fears to rest._**


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